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That was true for the Chicago traffic, but there was robust GT/CN passenger service to and from Detroit in both countries. The May 1945 Official Guide shows four daily trains in each direction riding the carferries. They had various combinations of coaches, sleepers and buffet parlors. The...

It should be clarified for readers not familiar with the history that the only Detroit tunnel passenger service after 1971 was the Det-NYC Niagara Rainbow (no Chicago cars), which only lasted from 10/31/74 to 1/31/79. 43 years and counting of nothing since, depressing.

I don't know much about the intricacies of HEP, but it was absolutely not a problem with the International. VIA F-40s pulling Superliners, Amtrak F-40s pulling LRC cars. Not an occasional occurrence, but daily, year after year. I have lived in Flint MI and East Lansing MI since before the...

Definitely! That was partly just a fun exercise on my part to research what amount of the GTW and Strathroy Sub has been single tracked. At least in the 50 years since CP discontinued Windsor-Toronto passenger service, the track has still been maintained to the 60 MPH freight/80 MPH passenger...

CN has a single main track for 106 miles (two thirds) of the Battle Creek-Port Huron run, and about 37 miles of the Sarnia-London route. CP and CN jointly purchased the tunnel and the rest of the Canada Southern from Conrail in 1985. CP now owns the tunnel 100%. Through freights the length of...

Ford seems cooperative, though I doubt it's reserving specific building space, however modest Amtrak's requirements will be, to handle a hypothetical future passenger train. The area directly behind the station is earmarked for Ford's "mobility testing" area. It might end up easier to build a...

It may well be a legacy of how so many towns in MI were founded by New York people and often named after NY places. Tons of newcomers arrived from NY via the Erie Canal, and later via the Great Western Ry's lines to Sarnia and Windsor. No corresponding direct link to PA.

I don't know why people are getting so hung up on the unfeasibility of a Chicago-Detroit-New York train, when that's not even what Amtrak is suggesting. They're only talking about a Chicago-Detroit-Toronto train.

Strictly freight cars. There were nice passenger accommodations and staterooms on most of them, though. I don't know if the ferries of the Mackinac Transportation Co. ever carried sleeping cars. They didn't in the 1910 and 1945 Official Guides I checked. Sleeping cars directly connected with...

What do you mean by "freight train standards?" Was superelevation reduced? As far as I know CSX restored it to the condition it was in before (Class 4: 60 MPH freight/79 MPH passenger).

One can't generalize that track was in better shape before Amtrak. The Penn Central, where most of Amtrak's business was, had marginally worse to a lot worse track compared with its lines that survive to today and are still used by Amtrak. FRA track standards didn't exist before the early '70s...

MDOT has owned from Townline (Dearborn) to Kalamazoo since Dec. 2012. This includes all yard tracks and spurs. The closest Amtrak yard tracks to New Buffalo are in Michigan City.

People imagining that an arbitrator can get them money for lack of a SSL need to read this relevant language from a current ticket envelope, which I guarantee is also somewhere on the web site. It's quite impressive and thoroughly airtight, including up to and beyond the sun exploding...

No, it's not true. After the Feb. 2009 Colgan Air crash, 5 people have died in crashes aboard regularly scheduled commercial (non-sightseeing, non-charter) flights in the US. In the same period with Amtrak through this Montana crash (assuming the 3 killed figure holds), 21 people aboard have...

Press releases, though often useful, aren't news, they're controlled public relations. Sadly, understaffed media rely on them too much these days, glad that's not the case here.

With regards to the classic buildings of the six big stations in Chicago, everything is gone except for Union Station's headhouse, and Dearborn.

Labeling the Detroit location as an "awful neighborhood" is lazy and inaccurate. It's has too many parking ramps/lots and could use more foot traffic, but I'm not afraid to walk around there. The depot is 650 feet from Wayne State's Integrative Biosciences Center and less than 600 feet from the...

Can't forget Durand, Michigan! 1. taken in 1904, the 1903 depot before it largely burned down in 1905. Note original, more elaborate dormers and slate roof. 2. the abandoned 1974-1979 period, with asphalt roof and dormers removed circa 1965. Note the trailer Amtrak passengers used then and the...

The vast majority of ties on the Amtrak Michigan Line are wood, and that includes the sections that have been good for 110 MPH as far back as 2012.

I've seen bathroom sink water drain out of Horizon cars, possibly Amfleet too, lots of times.