From the Detroit Free Press

Norfolk Southern Corp. says it’s restricting the speed that Amtrak trains can run on tracks the railroad company owns between Dearborn and Kalamazoo even as the line is prepared for high-speed passenger rail.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Randy Husband told AnnArbor.com that the company would only pay the maintenance costs necessary for the tracks to handle trains traveling between 25 and 60 m.p.h. He says someone else will have to pay for increased maintenance costs that would come with higher speeds than freight trains run.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says the federal money Michigan is receiving to improve the tracks will correct the problem.

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/201107100300/FEATURES07/107100409

From The Detroit News

The city moved closer to building a light-rail path up Woodward Avenue on  Wednesday, unveiling the route and stops for the project officials hope will  reinvigorate the Motor City.

In announcing an agreement between Detroit and the Federal Transportation  Administration for the $500 million project, Mayor Dave Bing called the deal a  “landmark moment.”

Under the agreement, the 19-stop rail system would run from the old State  Fairgrounds at Eight Mile south to Congress and then west to Washington  Boulevard.

From there it would then move north to the Rosa Parks Transit Center, just  north of Michigan Avenue. The rail system would then loop south on Washington to  Larned and then east to Woodward and back north to Eight Mile.

“This is a landmark moment in Detroit’s journey to make light rail a reality  in our city,” Bing said in a release.

“With the support of FTA staff, we have reached this target faster than many  believed was possible.”

The plan is a compromise between transit activists who wanted trains to run  in the center of Woodward and businesses that wanted them closer to the curb.  The new route will run in the center north of Grand Circus and nearer the curb  through downtown.

Construction could begin next year.

The project’s inclusion of a transit stop at the relatively empty corner of  Temple Street and Woodward has raised eyebrows. That area has long been rumored  as a location for a new hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings.

Bob Berg, a spokesman for the rail project, said private investors asked for  the stop there, but he didn’t know their rationale.

The signing of the agreement will clear the way for the use $25 million in  federal funds awarded to the city in August by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

According to the mayor’s office, the money for the trolley system would come  from various sources, including: more than $300 million from the federal  government; $100 million pledged by a consortium of private investors; the  issuance of $75 million in bonds plus an additional $12.5 million in federal and  state grants.

But one big unknown is the reaction from the M-1 Rail group, a coalition of  private investors including Mike Ilitch, Compuware founder Peter Karmanos and  Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert — who proposed contributing $100 million to  the system.

Under the original proposal, the consortium agreed to pay for a section of  light rail running on Woodward from Hart Plaza to the New Center area. The group  pushed for stops along the curb, believing that arrangement would spur  development along the corridor.

The route now stops before Hart Plaza, and if the investors withdraw their  money, the entire project could be in jeopardy.

M-1 Rail CEO Dan Cullen on Wednesday said he was reviewing the new agreement  and had no comment.

Carmine Palumbo, of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, questioned  the viability of the project without the M-1 coalition.

“If they decide to pull their money out I’m not sure it’s still a viable  project,” Palumbo said. The council has been a big supporter of the rail system.

“The city is in a tough spot as it tries to balance everything — the comments  of the public along with the wishes of the people who are providing financial  backing of the project.”

Berg said there was never any serious consideration of having the rail stop  at Hart Plaza because it would be too difficult to turn around a car there.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Bing stressed the agreement  includes “a series of major proposals sought by the M-1 Rail group who have  pledged private funding to  be part of the local matching funding on the project.”

According to Bing, all of the train stations originally proposed by the group  were retained in the final plan and the downtown route stays on Woodward all the  way to Congress and Larned as proposed by M-1 Rail.

Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, said she was  impressed with the plan because it meets needs ofthe city and businesses.

“It seems to be a great balance from what the city’s priority was, which is  to provide quick and convenient transit options as well as businesses which are  looking to have a lot of stops in the downtown area,” Owens said.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110630/METRO05/106300418/Final-route-announced-for-$500M-Woodward-light-rail-project#ixzz1QwiyVzgj

From the Detroit Free Press

Light rail in Detroit is taking a big step forward after the city and federal governments signed off on a final route for the service that would run from the Rosa Parks Transit Center through downtown and north along Woodward to the State Fairgrounds, city officials will announce today.

After months of public hearings, the Bing administration and the Federal Transit Administration agreed to a route that city officials say will encourage residential and commercial reinvestment and provide reliable rail service for commuters and visitors.

Mayor Dave Bing’s point man on the Woodward Light Rail project, Norm White, acknowledged that the plan won’t please everyone and may not immediately satisfy the wealthy private backers who have pledged $100 million to help pay for building the $500-million rail line.

“We’re hopeful they’ll understand this is a compromise situation,” White told the Free Press during an advance look at the plans. “No one got everything they wanted.”

Woodward Light Rail route blends need for speed, development

Light-rail cars would travel down the center of Woodward between 8 Mile on the city’s northern border and Adams Street in Grand Circus Park, and then change gears and run along the avenue’s outer lanes through downtown’s core.

The rail would loop west to Washington Boulevard and to the Rosa Parks Transit Center at Michigan and Cass, connecting the new rail line to downtown’s main transfer point for city and suburban bus riders.

The trains would serve 19 stops along the 9-mile route, including 10 on Woodward between Campus Martius downtown and Grand Boulevard in the New Center — prime locations where the city is banking on transit to stimulate promising clusters of commercial and residential redevelopment.

Those crucial design and route decisions are part of an agreement the city said it has reached with the federal government, a major step forward on the $500-million project to build light rail on Woodward.

Bing’s office and the Federal Transit Administration have signed off on final environmental impact statement — a document that spells out the rail line’s route and where stations will be built.

City officials said the decision on the route sets in motion a chain of events, including early engineering on the project. A $25-million grant that the Obama administration approved for new rail in Detroit last August will be freed up in September.

The city also has pledged to sell $75 million in bonds, part of which would serve as seed money for $300 million in federal funding that the city still must win to build the rail line.

Norm White, who heads the rail project for Bing, said Tuesday that the design is a compromise that takes into account input from wealthy private backers, residents and transit riders.

Several members of the private group of wealthy investors who pledged $100 million to start the project — credited with reviving federal interest in transit in Detroit — weren’t talking Tuesday. Matt Cullen, CEO of the M-1 Rail group, and Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation, declined to comment. Two major investors — Compuware’s Peter Karmanos and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert — couldn’t be reached for comment.

The M-1 group preferred to run the rail on outside lanes with frequent stops, which it felt would promote redevelopment. City and transit officials wanted rails in the middle of the avenue as a speedy system geared toward commuters, with fewer stations.

The latest proposal is a mix of both approaches. The rail line would run down the middle of Woodward from 8 Mile south through Midtown and the New Center. But in Grand Circus Park, the rail would be side-running along Woodward down to Congress, looping west and then north on Washington Boulevard to connect to the transit center, which the city insisted on. It would double back on Washington to Larned back to Woodward. City officials had insisted the rail line connect with the transit center, which is downtown’s main transfer point for city and suburban bus systems.

The proposed route provides more stops than initially planned, a win for the private backers, but city officials said the public, by a 90% margin, supported running the line down the center of Woodward, which transit advocates say makes for safer, faster trains.

The new route stops within a couple of blocks of downtown’s prime destinations — Cobo Center, Hart Plaza and the city’s two sports stadiums — but remains several blocks from the Renaissance Center and Greektown.

Source: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106290375

The Pere Marquette’s future needs to be outlined in the state’s plan for future rail needs, local officials say.

Source: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/feature/x1647079882/Future-of-passenger-rail-addressed-in-20-year-state-plan

From Progressive Railroading

Norfolk Southern Railway, Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) recently reached a development agreement that will bring the Federal Railroad Administration one step closer to obligating $133 million in federal funding for the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program’s Englewood flyover project, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

The agreement will advance the project and “help prevent any future attempts by House Republicans to rescind this funding,” which was appropriated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, said Durbin in a prepared statement.

“Earlier this year, I joined with my colleagues to stop an attempt by the House Republicans to rescind nearly $400 million in Illinois transportation funding — including $133 million for the Englewood Flyover project,” he said.

Considered the linchpin for the CREATE program, the flyover project calls for building a tripled-track bridge at 63rd and State streets in Englewood, Ill., to carry a Metra line over four NS tracks and a potential fifth track for a high-speed rail connection to Indiana. The project will reduce delays for Amtrak trains, eliminate delays on Metra’s Southwest Service line and shorten commutes on Metra’s Rock Island line, according to Durbin. About 78 Metra, 14 Amtrak and numerous freight trains currently pass through an Englewood crossing each day.

The CREATE program includes 70 projects — such as overpasses, underpasses, viaduct improvements, grade crossing enhancements, and track and signal upgrades — that are designed to restructure, modernize and expand the Chicago region’s passenger- and freight-rail network. Currently, 13 projects are under construction.

CREATE’s public/private partners include Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, BNSF Railway Co., CSXT, CN, Canadian Pacific, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co., NS, Union Pacific Railroad, IDOT and the Chicago DOT.

Source: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=27076