Remember the East – West commuter rail line that’s supposed to connect Ann Arbor and Deroit, with stops in Ypsi and Dearborn? Remember how the Governor said that it will happen before October 25, 2010, when her term comes to an end? Well, acording to a report issued today by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), they’re on schedule to see it happen. Here’s the report in its entirety.
And, here, for those of you new to the story, is a background video put together by the folks at SEMCOG.
Those of you interested in learning more can also check out these recent articles in the Michigan Daily, and on AnnArbor.com.
Oh, and has anyone figured out where to put the Ypsilanti platform yet?
13 Comments
Whenever I see these stories about the light rail between here and Detroit (with points beyond and in between), I always a) think to myself “I will believe it when I see it,” and b) chant “monorail! monorail! monorail!” ala The Simpsons.
I don’t doubt that a train will come rumbling down the track on the appointed date. I think it will. My concern is that the schedule will be so erratic, and the service so unpredictable that no one will consider it a reliable alternative. I’m afraid that it will fizzle after the first few weeks.
We’ve got to make this work. The future of our region depends on it.
So, does anyone know if a decision was made yet as to where the Ypsi platform will be placed, and how we’re going to handle people crossing the tracks?
The Planning Commission recommended the west side
http://cityofypsilanti.com/boards/bd_planning/minutes/2009/04-15-09
Thanks, Dan. I’ll follow the link and check it out. I’m curious to know if they discussed how the track crossing would be handled.
I heard michigan is getting 40 million for light rail projects out of the 8 billion set aside for these projects. The three biggest chunks are going to Florida ( Tampa-Orlando-Miami), California (Anaheim-San Diego), and the Chicago-St.Loius line. The first two are getting about 2 bil each I think. 31 states over all will get some of this money, but most of it will be improving lines that already exist. I don’t think any of it will be true High-Speed rail.
It’s nice that we’re getting some money, but what we couldn’t do with a couple billion here. This President has taken a good first step here, but this could be his interstate highway system if he would put some real money into it. Not to mention the jobs that would be created.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_fasttrack/all/1
nice article on wired about the high-speed rail projects in the works
Ann Arbor dotcom has an article on the Ann Arbor – Detroit rail line. Carmine Palombo, the director of transportation programs for SEMCOG, plans to give an update on the project to the Ann Arbor City Council on Monday.
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-to-detroit-rail-could-be-running-by-year-end-officials-say/index.php
From CNN.com, about the privatly funded light rail that will take you from New Center to Downtown, the new bus station, and yes, the people mover.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/15/smallbusiness/detroit_m1_light_rail/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin
Unfortunately the current proposal appears to use the existing rails, and anyone who has pulled over for a freight train when riding amtrak knows the service will not make its schedule on time. It would be better to start a bus service first and build ridership; then move to train if a reliable system becomes available. Using the old freight rails may not make this a viable system.
Lester –
I’ve discussed the freight preemption problem with SEMCOG in relation to this project, and it’s an acknowledged must-address issue. They, and MDOT, and Amtrak, and everyone else involved, understand that the acceptable margin of error is much much slimmer on a commuter service than on a long-haul train. On-time performance has apparently been a major part of the trackage rights discussions for this project. (I understand this to be part of why the project has been “in the works” for such a long time – as one might imagine, it has been difficult for the passenger service to extract contractual guarantees from the freight companies on this matter.)
So, don’t write off the service just because they’re using existing rails. (At least wait and say “I told you so,” once you’ve seen what happens.)
I’ve raised this issues as well, and, as I recall, I remember being told by someone that the long range plans involve putting in additional rail, so that, ultimately, there would be a somewhat dedicated line. I don’t know if that’s feasible over the whole distance, given space constraints, and I know it would be extremely expensive, but I like the idea, and hope that it’s being pursued. I could live with some delays, if I knew that a more sustainable solution was in the works.
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peter Baker, Mark Maynard. Mark Maynard said: Update on the Ann Arbor – Detroit rail line: Remember the East – West commuter rail line that’s supposed to connec… http://bit.ly/8DBVyJ […]
[…] Arbor to Detroit Rail Project? SEMCOG just posted an updated report on their website (thanks to Mark Maynard for tipping me off to […]
[…] Before we get into what it was like to ride from Ypsi to Detroit and back on the train, though, I think it would probably be good for me to preface this conversation by saying, “Don’t get your hopes up.” As longtime readers of this site know, we’ve been down this road before… Here, to give you some sense of what I’m talking about, is an excerpt from something I posted almost seven years ago, in January of 2010. The post was titled Update on the Ann Arbor – Detroit rail line. […]