Work toward implementing regional passenger rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit is now being led by the Regional Transit Authority for Southeast Michigan (RTA). The proposed service has been incorporated into the RTA's Master Plan and is part of the locally preferred alternative for the Michigan Avenue transit study. The RTA effort continues to take advantage of existing infrastructure where possible to minimize the cost of implementing passenger rail service in the corridor.
A series of public meetings is scheduled around the region throughout June. Get involved with this exciting and important work by reviewing and commenting on reports and maps on their website and participating in the public meetings.
SEMCOG and MDOT continue to provide technical support to the RTA team as needed. Background documents on the corridor and work toward implementing regional rail can be found below.
This project implements one of the key recommendations from SEMCOG's Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The RTP's transit component, Improving Transit in Southeast Michigan: A Framework for Action, adopted by the region in 2001, calls for, among other actions:
- the creation of a regional transit authority,
- development of a more detailed transit master plan, and
- implementation of passenger rail in the corridor.
The proposed regional passenger rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit is a segment of the federally designated Chicago Hub (Chicago-Detroit/Pontiac) High Speed Rail corridor. As a result, much of the existing infrastructure is in place and will be used whenever possible. Moreover, the recent influx of over a half billion dollars from the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) competitive grant program is good news for Michigan's Intercity passenger rail service (Amtrak trains) and the Ann Arbor-Detroit Regional service, as many of the necessary improvements will benefit both.