Fast trains got back on the fast track recently with a $196.5 million federal grant to the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The funds will go for track and signal improvements between Kalamazoo and Detroit.
The improvements will allow for speeds up to 110 mph on 77 percent of Amtrak’s Wolverine and Blue Water services between Detroit and Chicago. Trips between those destinations should be 30 minutes faster as a result.
Money for this 135 mile segment between Detroit and Kalamazoo will pay for preliminary engineering, final design and construction.
The project includes new, continuously welded rail and ties, fiber optic lines and infrastructure to support a positive train control system, rebuilding 180 highway-rail grade crossings, and gates and flashers at 65 private highway-rail grade crossings.
The project is expected to create about 800 new jobs during the construction phase, in late spring 2012.
MDOT also is slated to receive $150 million
DOT grant later this year to purchase this 135 mile segment of track. With those funds there will be capacity for freight operations through double tracking on the busiest freight segment and deliver long-term economic benefits to the State of Michigan. Currently, Amtrak trains often are delayed while freight trains use the rails.
State officials say the trains will spark economic development in communities along a corridor linking Detroit and Chicago.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Brie Sachse, U.S. Department of Transportation
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