A high-speed rail corridor between Chicago and Detroit could boost round-trip passenger train service between the two cities from the current three daily trips to 10 by 2035 at speeds of 110 m.p.h., according to preliminary planning on the project, Eric D. Lawrence reports in the Free Press.
The higher speeds would also cut the 5 hour, 38 minute trip by almost two hours, and reduce 20 minutes from the leg that continues from Detroit to Pontiac, which would see an extra four daily round-trips from the current three.
The information is part of a draft environmental impact statement released last month and discussed today during a meeting at the new John D. Dingell Transit Center on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, which is set to open in December.
The approximately 300-mile high-speed corridor is being designed to make rail an attractive alternative to highways and air for passenger travel between the Detroit area and Chicago, according to the statement. The route from Michigan City, Ind., to Pontiac would follow Amtrak's Wolverine route, but several options are under consideration for the trip from Union Station in downtown Chicago to Michigan City, an area with heavy levels of freight traffic.
