MDOT outlines plan to double Michigan Amtrak frequencies, studies coast'to'coast service
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Summary
The Michigan House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Local Transportation heard an MDOT Office of Rail briefing on federal Corridor ID awards for Michigan's three Amtrak corridors and a state-funded coast'to'coast feasibility study, as MDOT outlined plans to increase frequencies and identify infrastructure needs.
LANSING
The Michigan House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Local Transportation heard an update from the Michigan Department of Transportation's Office of Rail on Tuesday, including news that the Federal Railroad Administration accepted the state's three existing Amtrak corridors into its Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) program and that MDOT is pursuing a state-funded feasibility study for a proposed intrastate "coast-to-coast" route connecting Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit.
MDOT Director of the Office of Rail Peter Anister told the committee the three existing routes currently operate five round-trip trains daily and serve about 22 station communities. He said the state owns about 139 miles of track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo that allows operations up to 110 miles per hour on segments where investments have been made.
"We have 3 Amtrak routes that are in operation today," Anister said. "Those are a combined 5 round trip trains, you know, 7 days a week." He later added: "We'd like to double that up to 6 round trips" on the Wolverine route.
Why it matters: being in the Corridor ID program gives Michigan federal-scoped funding and positions the state more competitively for later construction grants. MDOT said the Corridor ID step 1 scoping awards are fully federally funded (initial awards of about $500,000 per corridor) and that subsequent steps carry federal matches: Step 2 (service development planning) is 90% federal/10% state and Step 3 (preliminary engineering and NEPA) is 80% federal/20% state. Because the coast-to-coast feasibility study is not part of the FRA program, MDOT said it is using a one-time FY24 state intermodal capital appropriation to fund that work.
Presentation highlights: Anister described three routes (Wolverine, Pere Marquette and Blue Water) and said MDOT wants to increase frequency roughly as follows: Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids'Chicago) from one round trip to two, Blue Water (Port Huron'Chicago) from one to two, and Wolverine (Oakland County/Pontiac area through Detroit to Chicago) from three to six round trips. He also listed reestablishing international Detroit'Windsor passenger service via a CPKC tunnel as part of the Wolverine corridor evaluation.
On ridership and finances, MDOT reported roughly 713,000 passengers across the three routes in fiscal year 2025 and record revenues after adopting a more dynamic, demand-based fare model in FY24. "We just in fiscal year 25, which just ended on September 30, we had about 713,000 riders on all 3 of our Amtrak services," Anister said.
On-time performance and constraints: Anister told lawmakers on-time performance has improved since FY19 but only the Pere Marquette currently meets the FRA's informal 80% on-time threshold. He cited several causes for delays: seasonal construction that reduces allowable speeds, limited availability or mechanical issues with rolling stock, freight-train interference on shared tracks and intermittent positive train control (PTC) technology issues. "So those are probably the biggest reasons of some of that delay," Anister said when listing causes.
Equipment and capacity limits: Committee members asked what would be required to implement increased frequencies. MDOT said the two largest practical barriers are equipment availability and infrastructure capacity. Anister noted railcars and locomotives are in short supply nationally and that lead times to obtain new equipment can be several years. He also said the high-volume corridor into Chicago (Norfolk Southern tracks) and several aging bridges limit throughput and would require infrastructure investment to materially increase service.
Funding and timing: MDOT said Step 1 scoping for the Corridor ID projects is nearly complete and Step 2 service development planning is expected to begin in early next year, with much of the planning work concentrated over an 18'24 month period; MDOT expects the coast-to-coast feasibility study to be completed in 2028. The department said being in the Corridor ID program makes future federal construction grants more attainable but emphasized that rail grants are competitive rather than formula-based.
Operations cost: When asked about current state support for Amtrak services, MDOT said the state spends approximately $25,000,000 per year to support the three Amtrak services. Anister said costs do not scale linearly with frequencies because some fixed costs are spread across more trips.
Stakeholder coordination: MDOT said it is meeting with freight railroads and stakeholder groups (including the Michigan Association of Rail Passengers) to coordinate on capacity, equipment and project needs and maintained the project website at michigan.gov/michiganpassengerrailfuture for updates and public comment.
Votes at a glance: Representative Borton moved to adopt the Oct. 22 meeting minutes; the motion prevailed by unanimous consent.
What happens next: MDOT will finish Corridor ID scoping, begin service development planning in early next year, and continue stakeholder engagement while seeking competitive federal grants for infrastructure projects identified in the study process.
