Michigan news, MARP Options

[KevinKorell]

Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers (MARP), newsletter for July 2012:

Still being discussed is a new freight rail tunnel between Windsor, ON and Detroit, MI. This would allow double stack freight cars to make international runs, and it would also free up the existing tunnel for possible passenger train usage (which would return Chicago-Toronto direct service).

The City of Ann Arbor accepted an FRA grant of $2.8 million to put towards a new Amtrak station. There are, however, mixed feelings about whether to leave the station in its current location, or put it closer to the University of Michigan.

There are talks regarding connecting Muskegon to the Amtrak system via a Thruway bus that would meet the Pere Marquette at Holland, MI. The local bus company in Grand Rapids is also being asked to provide better connections with the same train.

Megabus will start competing with Amtrak this month, both between Michigan points and Chicago, and within Michigan. They will be serving Detroit, East Lansing, and Grand Rapids, and they already serve Chicago.

The next MARP meeting will take place on July 28 (10 AM to 1 PM) in Grand Rapids at the RAPID Central Station. At the meeting will be representatives of the architects who will be building the new Amtrak station in that city.

MARP plans its first meeting not only outside Michigan but outside the country as well. Their November meeting will take place at the Michigan Central depot in Essex, ON. Members are being asked now to make sure they have proper documents to cross the border into Canada and back in the the USA.