From the Battle Creek Enquirer

A 19-year-old Albion woman was arrested Saturday after Albion Department of Public Safety Officers said she drove her SUV into the side of an Amtrak passenger train.

 Police reported the accident at 10:30 p.m. at the intersection of Cass and Monroe streets in Albion.

 Officers said the Ford Explorer rolled into the side of the eastbound train, hitting either the last train car or the last engine. After the crash, the Explorer continued east on Cass Street with major front end damage but was stopped by officers about two blocks away.

 The woman was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident. The train was not damaged and continued after the investigation.

Story link:
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20100221/NEWS01/302210004/1002/SUV+driver+arrested+after+hitting+train+in+Albion

From The Chicago Tribune

Amtrak has asked seven architectural and real estate firms to submit proposals to redevelop a key part of Chicago’s Union Station and plans to select a winning proposal by the end of May.

The firms include the Chicago office of architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Chicago developer U.S. Equities Realty and the Chicago office of Jones Lang LaSalle, which currently manages Union Station for Amtrak.

The firms are being asked to come up with plans for Union Station’s neo-classical Headhouse building (above), which is bounded by Clinton, Canal, Jackson and Adams streets.

“This is a pretty blank sheet of paper,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. “We will be looking for some creative, imaginative and transportation-oriented uses of the building.”

Read more:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2010/02/amtrak-asks-seven-teams-to-dream-up-plans-for-union-station-.html

From the Detroit Free Press

Local columnists have opposing views on this:

Michigan should be grateful the federal government allocated only $244 million to the Detroit-Chicago high-speed rail corridor, writes Randal O’Toole.

But, Tim Fischer counters, passenger rail is a catalyst for economic development that invariably accompanies it.

Page link:
http://freep.com/article/20100218/OPINION02/100218003/1322/Is-high-speed-rail-worth-the-cost

From the Jackson Citizen Patriot

Jackson’s historic train depot was bypassed for high-speed rail funding last month, but local officials are still confident it will be a stop on the proposed Detroit-Chicago corridor.

In recent years the Amtrak station, built in 1873 and one of the oldest continuously operating stations in the country, has received $1.3 million in grants to stabilize the building, repair the roof and drains and update plans to make it an intermodal transportation hub.

“They wouldn’t be putting all that money into the station if we weren’t going to be a stop,” said Steven Duke, executive director of the Region 2 Planning Commission.

Last month it was announced the Detroit-Chicago high-speed rail corridor would receive $244 million in federal stimulus funds and $40 million of that went to Michigan to renovate stations in Battle Creek and Troy and build a new station in Dearborn.

Read more:
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/02/officials_hopeful_that_high-sp.html

From Ann Arbor.com

Big transportation changes are on the way for the stretch of North University Avenue between Fletcher and Church streets.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved plans for a $4.5 million Central Campus transit center at its monthly meeting Thursday.

Read more:
http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-central-campus-transit-center-planned/