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News

Grand Rapids looks at new Amtrak station for Pere Marquette train to Chicago

From The Grand Rapids Press

A long-awaited new Amtrak station that could cut commute times and open the door to future service expansion may finally come down the track.

On Wednesday, the city’s Downtown Development Authority is expected to consider a request for $850,000 to buy land and build a new station and platform on land south of The Rapid Central Station in southwestern downtown.

The money would help The Rapid and Michigan Department of Transportation leverage a $3.8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration earmarked for building a new 1,700-foot long spur to service the station.

If all goes according to plan, the station could be in service by late 2011 or mid-2012.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/11/grand_rapids_looks_at_new_amtr.html

News

Editorial: Mid-Michigan profits from Amtrak deal

From The Lansing State Journal

The state and passenger-rail service Amtrak are negotiating on the next round of subsidies for two rail lines in Michigan, including the Blue Water service that stops in East Lansing.

Using state funds to pay Amtrak for rail service may seem a luxury, especially in these harsh budget times. It really isn’t, though.

“Amtrak trains have set new ridership records for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and collected $24.5 million in ticket revenue, the Michigan Department of Transportation reported last month. “The Blue Water train on the Port Huron/East Lansing-Chicago route saw an impressive 18.7 percent increase, with 157,709 passengers … in FY10. Ticket revenue was up by 15.3 percent to $4.741,560.”

For all intents and purposes, the Blue Water service is a link between Greater Lansing and Chicago. The East Lansing station is about twice as busy as the next busiest Michigan station on the line (Flint). It is mid-Michigan’s gateway to the nation’s passenger rail grid – a grid that should be getting more attractive in a few years.

In October, Michigan was told it would receive $160 million in federal funds for rail investment. The focus will be on improving tracks and the speed of service between Detroit and Chicago.

Greater Lansing’s participation in any improvement in rail service is tied directly to the state subsidies, which will be about $8 million for the two lines this year.

MDOT expects to have a new agreement with Amtrak by the end of the calendar year.

Then there are the results of last Tuesday’s elections, which are being widely interpreted in Michigan as a call for a major retrenchment in state spending. It’s easy to see how the Amtrak funds could get caught up in the new mood.

Fortunately, Gov.-elect Rick Snyder has said again and again that he is looking to recast state programs based on the value they offer, the results they provide. Using that metric, the Amtrak service through East Lansing should hold up quite well.

Meanwhile, the city of East Lansing is trying to make an investment of its own by building a “multi-modal” hub for buses and trains at the tiny and uninviting Amtrak station on Harrison Road.

Of course, this redevelopment, projected at $20 million in spending, would be a project without a rationale should Amtrak stop its Blue Water service.

This is another issue where mid-Michigan’s Capital Caucus of legislators can take the lead, explaining to the incoming Snyder administration and to new legislators that there is, indeed, a good deal to be had with Amtrak.

An LSJ editorial

Source: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201011070400/OPINION01/11070511

FYI, News, Reports

Election results: Transit millages in Michigan

Voters have overwhelming supported transit millages and proposals in Michigan during the 2010 election cycle. In many cases, the ballot proposals passed with a greater than 2/3 majority. Here is a listing of ballot proposals compiled by Transportation for America:

Bay County – Type: Property tax
Bay County voters were asked to approve a five-year, 0.75-mill renewal for operations of the Bay Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The renewal is expected to generate about $2.2 million a year. The rate has not increased since it was first approved by voters in 1981. The revenue is used to match state and federal grants, which all totaled fund Bay Metro’s $7 million annual budget.

August 3, 2010
Approved
64%-36%

Bennington Township – Type: Property tax
Voters are being asked to approve a 0.15-mil levy, which will run for four years, for the purpose of providing public transportation within Bennington Township from SATA at a reduced cost. If approved, the millage would raise an estimated $14,400 in its first year.

November 2, 2010
Approved
66%-34%

Branch County – Type: Property tax
Voters were asked to approve a 0.35 millage renewal to support the operation of the Branch Area Transit Authority (BATA) bus service. Local voters have always approved renewals. The tax will continue until 2014, and is expected to raise about $464,770 in its first year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
70%-30%

Clare County – Type: Property tax
Voters were asked to approve a five-year millage renewal for Clare County Transit Corportation. The total request was for 0.3 mills, with 0.2953 mills being renewed and 0.0047 mills being restored. The tax was originally approved in the 1980s. It is estimated to generate $312,068.00 the first year. Clare County Transit has an annual operating budget of approximately $1.2 million. Funding comes from the local millage, fares and state and federal grants.

August 3, 2010
Approved
61%-39%

Caro – Type: Property tax
Voters in Almer Charter and Indianfields townships and the City of Caro were asked for 1 mill for three years for the Caro Transit Authority to operate Thumbody Express. The measure is expected to generate $231,000 annually.

November 2, 2010
Approved
62%-38%

Eaton County – Type: Property tax
Voters in Eaton County were asked to increase the millage for EATRAN to 0.5 mill to allow service expansion and some fixed-route service.

August 3, 2010
Failed
45%-55%

Eaton County – Type: Property tax
A measure identical to the failed August 3 measure. The proposal would replace the 0.2469 mill levy with an 0.75 mill tax levy for five years, from 2012 through 2016. The county Board of Commissioners voted to put this measure back on the ballot two weeks after the disappointing August election.

November 2, 2010
Failed
40%-60%

Genesee County – Type: Property tax
On the ballot was a five-year renewal measure for a 0.4 mill tax to support the Mass Transportation Authority’s countywide bus system. In its first year, the tax is expected to generate about $4.5 million. Countywide property taxes have been approved for MTA everytime they have been on the ballot since 1996.

August 3, 2010
Approved
63%-37%

 

Ingham County – Type: Property tax
The proposal would combine and reauthorize two levies approved by voters in 2004 and 2006 for public transportation services elderly and disabled. The 0.48 mill would raise approximately $3.641 million a year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
67%-33%

 

Ingham County – Type: Property tax
This measure for the Capital Area Transportation Authority would replace replace two existing levies with a single renewal and an increase totalling 3 mills. This rate was approved by voters in 2004, but was subsequently reduced by a change in a constitutional provision. The millage is expected to generate approximately $18,001,980 in its first year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
63%-37%

 Lapeer County – Type: Property tax
This proposal asks voters to renew the 0.25 operating fund millage for the Greater Lapeer Transportation Authority. It was approved by voters in 2006 and was set to expire in 2010. It will be applicable in the townships of Deerfield, Elba, Lapeer, Mayfield, and Oregon and the City of Lapeer, for a period of five years, from 2011 to 2015. It is estimated to raise $290,000 in its first year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
67%-33%

 

Ludington, Mason County- Type: Property tax
This proposal asked voters to renew the 1 mill operating fund millage for the Ludington Mass Transportation Authority that was approved in 2006 for four years. The tax would be extended for five years, from 2011-2015 in the city of Ludington. In its first year it is estimated to generate $262,945.

August 3, 2010
Approved 

Scottsville, Mason County – Type: Property tax
This proposal asked voters to renew the 1 mill operating fund millage for the Ludington Mass Transportation Authority that was approved for 2 years in 2008. The millage would be levied for five years, from 2011-2015 in the city of Scottsville. In its first year it is expected to generate $23,460.

August 3, 2010
Approved 

City of Saginaw – Type: Property tax
The measure asked voters to approve a 3-mill, five-year renewal of the levy for the Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services. The measure is necessary to maintain operations in preparation for a potential countywide measure in 2015.

August 3, 2010
Approved
65%-35%

 

Shiawassee County – Type: Property tax  

August 3, 2010
Approved 

Spring Lake – Type: Property tax
Voters will consider a two-year renewal of 0.9898 mills to pay for the village’s participation in the Harbor Transit transportation system. The levy would be within the village’s authorized operating tax, and would not involve a change in its millage rate. It is expected to generate $84,786 annually.

November 2, 2010
Approved
80%-20%

 

St. Joseph County – Type: Property tax
St. Joseph County voters in August will get a request to renew for four years a 0.33-mill property tax originally approved in 2007. The tax generates $583,000, about 45 percent of the St. Joseph County Transportation Authority’s $1.3 million budget. It is set to expire next year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
61%-37%

 

Van Buren – Type: Property tax
Request to renew  0.2480 mill for public transportation services for seniors and disabled people for 5 years, from 2011-2015.. The levy is expected to bring in $734,431 in the first year.

August 3, 2010
Approved
68%-32%

 

Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties – Type: Property tax
Voters in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties voted on a two-year millage renewal to fund local SMART bus service in their communities. The 0.59-mill property tax funds bus service in the 23 suburban communities that have chosen to “opt in” to the system by voting on the tax. SMART gets about half its revenue from property taxes, and has recently trimmed $11 million from its budget — $7 million through cuts and $4 million through a fare increase that took effect Dec. 1.

August 3, 2010
Approved
Oakland- 78%
Wayne- 74%
Macomb-72%

Wexford – Type: Property tax
This proposal asked voters countywide to consider a 0.6 mill levy to support operations for the Cadillac/ Wexford Transit Authority. The levy would be renewed for four years. The CWTA had $2 million in total expenses in 2009. This operating millage is expected to generate $591,285.

August 3, 2010
Approved
61%-39%

 

Ypsilanti – Type: Property tax 
City of Ypsilanti voters were asked to approve a charter amendment to levy an additional 0.9789 mills specifically for public transit, restoring the original 20 mills that had been reduced. With the amendment in place, Ypsilanti would secure an additional $281,429 in revenue in 2011 for bus transportation through the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

November 2, 2010
Approved
72%-28%

News

Track deal helps commuter rail: State purchase to cut Detroit-Ann Arbor line costs

From Crain’s Detroit Business

The Michigan Department of Transportation‘s looming purchase of privately owned railroad tracks between Dearborn and Kalamazoo as part of an improved high-speed rail corridor to Chicago also will directly benefit a commuter rail project linking Detroit and Ann Arbor.

State ownership of the 135 miles of Norfolk Southern Railway-owned track will reduce the to-be-determined operational costs for the Ann Arbor-Detroit service that’s a joint MDOT- Southeast Michigan Council of Governments effort.

That’s because the line won’t have to pay a fee to use those tracks.

“It’s a different business model now. It becomes a little bit easier dealing with some of these issues,” said Carmine Palombo, director of transportation planning for SEMCOG.

The regional planning agency, through which federal transit dollars flow for metro Detroit, has long planned a 48-mile Amtrak-operated commuter rail service of four daily trains that could be operational by the end of 2011.

In the past, negotiations between transportation agencies and the freight line for purchase of the track had bogged down — freight rail companies typically dislike sharing tracks with passenger rail because of traffic delays.

That’s no longer a problem once MDOT buys the track.

“(Norfolk Southern is) a willing seller and the state is a willing buyer,” said Janet Foran of MDOT’s office of communication.

Travel time on both the Detroit-Ann Arbor and the Detroit/Pontiac-Chicago services also is expected to be improved by the track sale.

Amtrak’s “Wolverine” line from Pontiac/Detroit to Chicago runs about six hours now, and the goal is to get it under three hours.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern currently limits trains to 60 mph on the Dearborn-Kalamazoo stretch because its freight trains don’t need to move as fast as passenger trains.

The faster the train, the higher the operational costs.

“Based on our current and anticipated level of business, we could maintain those tracks at 25 mph and meet our customer’s needs. Obviously, maintaining 25 mph for passenger service is not feasible,” said Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern’s director of public relations for the Midwest and Northeast.

Once the track is purchased and improvements made, trains will be able to travel up to 110 mph.

From Kalamazoo west to the state line, the 97 miles of track are owned by Amtrak and allow for speeds up to 79 mph.

Canadian National and Conrail will own track between Dearborn and Pontiac/Detroit, and some type of fee arrangement will be worked out to run both the Chicago service and the local Detroit-Ann Arbor trains over that stretch.

Bidding is expected to begin in the spring and construction in summer 2011 on track improvements between Dearborn and Kalamazoo to set the stage for development of a 304-mile high-speed rail corridor to Chicago.

MDOT was awarded $150 million last week from the U.S. Department of Transportation to buy and improve the Norfolk Southern track as part of the federal government’s national plan to create an Amtrak-run high-speed rail system similar to those in Europe and Asia.

Another $7.9 million is paying for the West Detroit Connection Track project that will link the high-speed line to the Amtrak station in Detroit’s New Center area. The project includes a new bridge over Junction Avenue, construction of 1.34 miles of new connection track, relocation of 0.86 miles of existing track, construction of three new crossovers and signal improvements.

A $3.2 million grant to Michigan, Indiana and Illinois transportation agencies will pay for a corridor investment plan for the Chicago-Detroit/Pontiac route, including environmental impact studies that will help pave the way for increased speeds and frequencies on the route.

The money comes from $2.4 billion awarded Thursday by the federal government for planning and construction of high-speed and intercity passenger rail service, including current corridors and new lines exclusively for trains traveling up to 220 mph.

The High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program is funded through $8 billion set aside last year in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The latest funding awards are the second round of grants. In total, 54 applications from 23 states received money, federal officials said.

In January, it was announced Michigan would receive $40 million in rail-related federal stimulus grants to build a new Amtrak station in Dearborn and to pay for renovations to train stations in Troy and Battle Creek.

Source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20101031/SUB01/310319989/track-deal-helps-commuter-rail-state-purchase-to-cut-detroit-ann

News

High-speed service to Detroit, St. Louis on track for 2013

From the Chicago Sun-Times

By 2013, Chicagoans traveling to Detroit, St. Louis or Iowa City may be able to save time by leaving the car at home and taking the train.

The U.S. Department of Transportation last week announced a second round of high-speed rail investment, including $230 million to create a new intercity passenger rail service between Iowa City and Chicago and $161 million for a high-speed corridor between Detroit and Chicago.

The first round of high-speed rail funding, announced in spring 2009, brought $1.2 billion to Illinois. Most of this will be spent on boosting speeds on the route from Chicago to St. Louis, cutting two hours off the five-hour trip.

About $150 million of the money awarded to Michigan will be for the section of track between Kalamazoo and Detroit. This is owned by Norfolk Southern, which wants to sell it, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.

Michigan may buy it with a portion of the high-speed rail money. Discussions are ongoing about how much of the funds would be for the track and how much for track improvement, Magliari said.

Track improvements would increase speeds from 79 mph to 110 mph, which would bring it in line with the track Amtrak owns from Kalamazoo to the state line.

At greater speeds, Amtrak could double the number of round trips from Chicago to Detroit from three to six, Magliari said. Ridership on this route already has increased 8 percent in the past year.

The rest of the high-speed funding would be used to improve the connection from Pontiac to the state line.

The Iowa money will be used to build a connection between the Iowa Interstate railroad line (formerly the Rock Island line) and the BNSF line west of Wyanet, Ill. Money also will go toward new stations.

There hasn’t been rail passenger service from Chicago to the Quad Cities since the 1970s or to Iowa City since the 1960s, Magliari said.

The work on both the Detroit and Iowa City lines could take two construction seasons, 2011 and 2012.

In the northern part of the state, $60 million from the state capital bill was designated in January to rehab the old Black Hawk route from Chicago to Dubuque for passenger service.

Authorities are evaluating the condition of the route, according to Janet Fisher, co-chair of the Blackhawk Area Rail Coalition. Passenger service on the 182-mile route, which includes Rockford and Galena, stopped running in 1981.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/2852402,CST-NWS-ride01a.article