Amtrak Michigan: Wolverine, Blue Water, Pere Marquette

I get east and west mixed up often.

It is a shame that they can't keep trains on time.

Tadman wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2024 8:32 am I grew up nearby and know the area well, I don't know of a Glenwood road until you get to Chicago Heights / Homewood area, but that's not adjacent to this route.

I presume it's Glenwood Road on the north side of Dowagiac

2022 description of Amtrak's request (which listed several projects) :

"Double track from Niles to Glenwood, Mich.: $20 million

"A total of 16 miles of new second main would link and extend existing passing sidings from Niles through and beyond Dowagiac, Mich., thereby reducing delays resulting when passenger-train meets don’t occur as scheduled. This is common for Wolverine and Blue Water trains as a result of freight train interference west of Porter, Ind., on Norfolk Southern and east of Dearborn or Battle Creek, Mich., on Canadian National. As with the two Airline connection projects, the Joliet platform, and the Union Station improvements, the cost estimate includes preliminary engineeering, environmental compliance, final design, and construction."

https://www.amtrak.com/alert/wolverine- ... ended.html

Wolverine Trains 350 and 353 Temporarily Suspended


Effective November 12, 2024
One Wolverine Service roundtrip will be affected in a one-day outage caused by a CN Railway improvement project, as outlined below. Schedule times listed on Amtrak.com have been updated to reflect these changes.

Wolverine Service
Trains 350 and 353, which normally operate between Chicago, IL and Pontiac, MI will be canceled on Tuesday, November 12, with no alternate transportation provided.
All other Wolverine and Blue Water trains will operate normally.

So the Chicago-Detroit train which travels mostly on Amtrak owned rails between Chicago and Detroit is being temporarily suspended because the CN host, which is the last 30 miles of of the 320 miles route, is out of order???

I mean we could always short turn at Dearborn and keep it on Amtrak iron.

I don't know what or where the CN work is but, per OpenRailwayMap and Wikipedia, the Wolverine has to traverse CN trackage in Battle Creek MI.

Tadman wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 4:46 pm So the Chicago-Detroit train which travels mostly on Amtrak owned rails between Chicago and Detroit is being temporarily suspended because the CN host, which is the last 30 miles of of the 320 miles route, is out of order???

I mean we could always short turn at Dearborn and keep it on Amtrak iron.

...um... From Detroit, CN Shore Line Subdivision to Melvindale... then it's all Norfolk Southern to Chicago. Where's the Amtrak owned rail?

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 9:19 pm ...um... From Detroit, CN Shore Line Subdivision to Melvindale... then it's all Norfolk Southern to Chicago. Where's the Amtrak owned rail?

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Line
"Amtrak owns the 98-mile (158 km) section between Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, the longest stretch of Amtrak-owned rail outside of the Northeastern U.S. The state of Michigan, through the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) owns the 135-mile (217 km) section between Kalamazoo and Dearborn, which it purchased from Norfolk Southern in December 2012. A short stretch of track in Battle Creek, Michigan is owned by Canadian National Railway. The entire line was originally the mainline of the Michigan Central Railroad.
On track sections owned by Amtrak or Michigan, max passenger train speeds can reach 110 mph for 77% of the route between Chicago and Detroit."

Tadman wrote: ↑Sat Nov 09, 2024 4:46 pmSo the Chicago-Detroit train which travels mostly on Amtrak owned rails between Chicago and Detroit is being temporarily suspended because the CN host, which is the last 30 miles of of the 320 miles route, is out of order???

I mean we could always short turn at Dearborn and keep it on Amtrak iron.

Not a bad idea for a single day. 350 normally parks at Pontiac for about three hours before returning as 353 to Chicago. Turning at Detroit would require parking the train there for five hours at a place with no crew base facilities.

The other Pontiac trains are running on the 12th so there are options for passengers.

Regarding crew facilities, you could rent a couple modest hotel rooms for the duration and pay the hotel a little extra to stock some coffee and such in the rooms.

Regarding the frequencies, as a guy that used to ride this line a lot, I found the three frequencies to be the bare minimum that makes it useful in comparison to driving or flying. If I have to wait 3 hours for another train after my work in town is done, I'm going to fly and be home by the time the next train leaves, especially if I have to wait out those three hours in the Detroit station. If one lives in the suburbs of NW Indiana or exurbs in SW Michigan, this can be a very useful route. It's easier to board in New Buffalo or Niles and go to Detroit than it is to drive to Midway and catch Delta.

It's a Tuesday, which I'll guess is a very low ridership day, and not justifying of any operational heroics.

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Tadman wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 12:30 pmRegarding crew facilities, you could rent a couple modest hotel rooms for the duration and pay the hotel a little extra to stock some coffee and such in the rooms.

It is a maximum five hour layover. So a hotel that rents rooms by the hour?

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 8:40 pmIt's a Tuesday, which I'll guess is a very low ridership day, and not justifying of any operational heroics.

Agreed.

justalurker66 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 11:36 am

Tadman wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 12:30 pmRegarding crew facilities, you could rent a couple modest hotel rooms for the duration and pay the hotel a little extra to stock some coffee and such in the rooms.

It is a maximum five hour layover. So a hotel that rents rooms by the hour?

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 8:40 pmIt's a Tuesday, which I'll guess is a very low ridership day, and not justifying of any operational heroics.

Agreed.

Nah, just a standing operation contract, having a dedicated room for the crew.

west point wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:00 pmIt will expensive but reliable service obviously needs to eliminate one way or another the CN sections especially that ~ 1 mile section.

The Blue Water is still running tomorrow ... so Battle Creek and west still have three trains to and from Chicago.
The brief outage must be between Detroit and Pontiac.