Michigan Line

The Michigan Line, sometimes known as the Chicago–Detroit Line, is a railroad corridor that runs from Porter, Indiana, to Dearborn, Michigan. It carries Amtrak's Blue Water and Wolverine services, as well as the occasional local and/or unit train operated by Norfolk Southern.

Michigan Line
The Wolverine crossing the St. Joseph River at Niles, Michigan
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	Amtrak, MDOT
Locale	Indiana and Michigan
Termini	Porter, Indiana Kalamazoo, Michigan
Stations	10
Service
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Services	Blue Water Wolverine
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Technical
Line length	232 mi (373 km)
Number of tracks	1
Character	Single track with passing sidings
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	Up to 110 mph (180 km/h)
Route map Dist. Station 0 mi Conrail Michigan Line to Detroit 273 mi 439 km Dearborn 271 mi 436 km Greenfield Village 243 mi 391 km Ann Arbor 205 mi 330 km Jackson 184 mi 296 km Albion Grand Trunk Western route to Port Huron 160 mi 257 km Battle Creek 143.4 mi 230.8 km Kalamazoo 156.4 mi 251.7 km Mattawan 160.6 mi 258.5 km Lawton 168.3 mi 270.9 km Decatur 179.6 mi 289 km Dowagiac 190.0 mi 305.8 km Niles 198.5 mi 319.5 km Buchanan 206.0 mi 331.5 km Galien 211.8 mi 340.9 km Three Oaks CSX Grand Rapids Subdivision 218.9 mi 352.3 km New Buffalo 222.7 mi 358.4 km Indiana/Michigan border 228.5 mi 367.7 km   228.9 mi 368.4 km Michigan City 229.8 mi 369.8 km South Shore Line 240.7 mi 387.4 km NS Chicago Line

It is owned by Amtrak for 98 miles (158 km) from Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, the longest stretch of Amtrak-owned rail outside of the Northeastern U.S. The 135 miles (217 km) of the line between Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Dearborn, Michigan was purchased by the State of Michigan in early 2013,[1] with the exception of a short stretch in Battle Creek, Michigan, which is owned by Canadian National Railway; the state-owned track is now dispatched and maintained by Amtrak as part of the Michigan Line.[2] The purchase agreement retains exclusive trackage right for freight by Norfolk Southern (NS), the previous owner of the line.[3]

The entire line was originally the mainline of the Michigan Central Railroad.

In 2002, the section from Porter to Kalamazoo became the first passenger rail line in the United States to have positive train control (PTC) technology installed,[4] specifically GE Transportation Systems' Incremental Train Control System (ITCS). In 2005, Amtrak received approval from the Federal Railroad Administration to run trains at up to 95 miles per hour (153 km/h).[5] Most Amtrak trains outside of the Northeast are limited to 79 mph (127 km/h) due to federal regulations. Regular service at 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) began from Porter to Kalamazoo on February 15, 2012.[6][7]

In November 2011, Michigan was awarded $150 million to expand its high-speed rail line to allow speeds of up to 110 mph (177 km/h) along the rest of the line from Kalamazoo to Dearborn, for a total 77% of the routes of Amtrak's Wolverine and Blue Water services between Detroit and Chicago.[8]

Despite the presence of the safety system on the Michigan Line, a derailment occurred just east of Niles, Michigan, on October 21, 2012, after a Wolverine train exited the main line and entered a freight yard due to a misaligned switch. The train had a green signal and was traveling at about 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) when it hit the switch. The incident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and was found to be an Amtrak contractor's fault, caused by one of its employees improperly applying jumper wires to the signal system, bypassing safeguards that had been designed to prevent such an occurrence.[9]

References

1. Bowen, Douglas (2012-05-08). "STB OKs Michigan DOT rail line buy". Railway Age. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15.
2. "Amtrak Michigan Service Improvement Update" (PDF). Amtrak. 2013-02-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-15.
3. Bowen, Douglas (2012-12-14). "Michigan DOT completes NS rail line buy". Railway Age. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
4. "Chicago-Detroit Service Levels". National Association of Rail Passengers. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
5. "AGE's Positive Train Control Technology is Full Speed Ahead on Amtrak's Michigan Line" (PDF). General Electric press release. 2005-10-11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
6. "All aboard! MDOT puts 110 mph special Amtrak train video on YouTube". Michigan Department of Transportation. 2012-02-15. Archived from the original on 2018-04-22. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
7. Smigiel, Anthony (2012-02-15). "Amtrak celebrates increase in train speeds to 110 mph along Kalamazoo corridor from Chicago". Kalamazoo Gazette. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
8. Samuel, A. (2011-11-24). "$150m awarded to Michigan to expand high speed rail in the Midwest". Rail.co. Archived from the original on 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
9. Hilkevitch, Jon (2012-10-23). "NTSB: Chicago-Michigan Amtrak missed freight cars by 21 feet". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2012-11-06.

External links

Media related to Michigan Line at Wikimedia Commons