From The Detroit News

From AnnArbor.com

The question was posed by an audience member at the Michigan By Rail‘s forum Dec. 9 at Washtenaw Community College: Why doesn’t the Amtrak train stop in Ypsilanti?

After the meeting, Derrick James, Amtrak’s senior director of government affairs for the Midwest, approached Ypsilanti Mayor Paul Schreiber and told him the first step was for the city simply to ask.

And so on Tuesday, the Ypsilanti City Council will consider a resolution asking Amtrak to explore adding a stop in Ypsilanti. The effort is separate from the planned Ann Arbor-to-Detroit commuter rail, which was originally scheduled to start running in October, but was delayed because of logistical and funding issues.

The council’s resolution to approach Amtrak Midwest’s government affairs office would start the process to get an Ypsilanti stop, said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman. Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation would have to seek approval from Norfolk-Southern Railroad, the freight train company that owns the rail lines, and make sure the new stop wouldn’t interfere with freight traffic.

Amtrak also would conduct an economic analysis to determine whether an Ypsilanti stop would be beneficial to its service. One of the concerns Magliari noted is the proximity of train stops in Ann Arbor and Dearborn.

Depot Town “is very attractive, but you are also very close to other stations,” he said.

Depot Town currently doesn’t have a place where a train can stop. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and MDOT are funding a 300-foot platform with a kiosk on the west side of the tracks, and the Ypsilanti Freighthouse is inching closer to opening at least part of its historic structure, which includes a bathroom and a cafe.

City Planner Teresa Gillotti said existing plans slated the platform for completion in late spring or early summer, but she said that could change with a new administration in Lansing. Officials are still waiting on approval of the platform’s environmental assessment, and after that the parties must figure out the process for issuing a request for proposals.

City Manager Ed Koryzno said a design for the Freighthouse’s cafe still must be approved by the State Historic Preservation Office, which is funding the project. He said he hopes the cafe will open when the platform does, or just after.

Amtrak trains’ last roundtrip stops in Ypsilanti came in 1982, although the eastbound train stopped in Depot Town until 1984. Magliari said that line, the Michigan Executive, was a remnant of the commuter train that connected Detroit with western suburbs and cities up until 1975. As Amtrak focused more on inter-city connection instead of commuter, or suburb-to-city lines, it phased out the Ypsilanti stop, Magliari said.

The Wolverine train runs three times daily each direction between Chicago and Pontiac. In 2010, the line saw its ridership increase by 8 percent from 444,000 to 476,000 passengers. Ticket revenues on the line also jumped by 12 percent and Amtrak recorded its best annual figures in fiscal year 2010 with 28 million riders.

Magliari said rail grants offered by the federal government since 2008 have resulted in an increased number of local governments seeking a stop in their community. Schreiber said most residents he has spoken with strongly support the idea of trains stopping in Ypsilanti again.

“I think there’s a lot of people who would like to see a train stop in Depot Town,” he said. “It would help Depot Town businesses and help Ypsilanti as a whole, so you’ve got to try for it.”

Source: http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/ypsilanti-officials-to-consider-asking-amtrak-to-stop-trains-in-depot-town/

From the Jackson Citizen Patriot

Ridership is up at Jackson’s historic Amtrak station.

In 2010, 14,350 people boarded trains and 14,513 deboarded trains at the station, a total of 28,863. That’s an increase of 11 percent from 2009, when 25,987 people board and deboarded.

Overall, ridership on the Wolverine line between Detroit and Chicago was up 23 percent from October to December and ticket revenue was up 26 percent.

The Michigan Department of Transportation attributed the increases to more people becoming aware of the value and convenience of rail travel.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/01/ridership_at_jackson.html

From The Grand Rapid Press

City officials are clearing the path for a new railroad track that will bring the Pere Marquette Amtrak train to The Rapid Transit Center.

City commissioners this week approved the sale of city-owned land at 150 Logan Street SW to the ITP for $1,050. The land is needed to build the rail spur that will replace the current station used by Amtrak at Wealthy Street and Market Avenue SW.

ITP spokeswoman Jennifer Kalczuk said the ITP is in the process of developing a “request for proposals” to build the track. She said the work will be done within 12 to 18 months of the contract’s approval by federal railroad officials.

City officials see the new facility as a way to make rail transit aboard Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line to and from Chicago more convenient while alleviating congestion as trains come and go at least twice a day.

The new setup would eliminate a time consuming turnaround passengers arriving in Grand Rapids via Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line must endure. The turn around can add 15 minutes to the trip as trains pull past the current station and turn around before finally allowing passengers to exit.

Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/01/interurban_transit_partnership.html

From The Owosso Argus-Press

An internal Canadian National Railway memorandum dated one month before a train derailed Jan. 6 suggests the engineer assigned to work on the engine that crashed near Durand was a trainee, though a CN official vehemently denies the engineer was unqualified.

In a memo obtained through an anonymous source by The Argus-Press dated Dec. 7, Flint Trainmaster John Clark of CN Railway wrote: “Need Chris Garske and Chris Smith put on assignments as engineer trainees. Both I believe are not qualified outside of Pontiac yard.”

Chris Garske of Swartz Creek was the engineer on the train that derailed 12 rail cars near Pittsburg and Reed roads in Vernon Township, leaking hydrochloric acid and triggering the evacuation of 66 area residents.

CN Railway Spokesman Patrick Waldron refused to answer questions about the incident, citing an ongoing investigation, but he made the following statement:

“Any suggestion that the crew members involved in the Jan. 6 incident were not qualified to operate the train is mistaken and simply not true,” Waldron said Tuesday. “All CN crew members are qualified for their duties and are familiar with the territories on which they operate. That would include the two members who operated the train on Jan. 6.”

Read more:
http://www.argus-press.com/news_local/article_3e56c7d8-295b-11e0-8dce-001cc4c002e0.html