Plans are underway to bring trains back to the iconic Michigan Central Station, with possible rail service from Detroit all the way to Toronto beginning as soon as 2029.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Wednesday, Oct. 15, during a visit to the newly restored train station that the Michigan Department of Transportation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the city of Detroit and Ford’s Michigan Central campus to commit $40 million for research and engineering of a “multimodal transportation hub” that would be built next door to the station.
The planned hub would bring passenger rail service back to the station area for the first time since 1988, specifically with a proposed extension of a Chicago-Detroit Amtrak line into Windsor, then going all the way to Toronto.
The hub also would offer intercity bus service.
The facility would be built just west of the train station, as the original train platforms behind the station have been removed.
Detroit’s current Amtrak station in New Center will remain in service. The proposed Michigan Central hub would, at least initially, only serve the Windsor/Toronto train service extension.
Whitmer made the announcement in the station’s elaborately restored lobby during a special fall event hosted for the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
The goal is to finish design work for the new rail line in 2026 and finish building it by 2029, according to Arun Rao, an Amtrak executive who also spoke at the meeting.
The new service isn’t yet a done deal. The plan still needs approval from the Canadian government of about $50 million in Canadian dollars for the final design and various rail upgrades, including construction of rail platforms, according to Rao.
U.S. passengers who travel on the future line would go through customs on the Canadian side of the border in Windsor and transfer to a VIA Rail Canada train, which would travel to London, Ontario, and then all the way to Toronto.
On the U.S. side, the new line would be considered an extension of Amtrak’s existing Wolverine line between Pontiac and Chicago. The train would get to Windsor through an existing rail tunnel under the Detroit River.
The plan anticipates one train per day on the line.
As for the state of Michigan’s $40 million commitment, that money would come from a $10 million federal grant and $30 million in state funds, according to a news release.
The new hub would eventually replace the downtown Detroit Grayhound station on Howard Street.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer announces Amtrak service to restart near Michigan Central Station in Detroit
Reporting by JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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