From The Detroit News
Nathan Hurst / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington –After a disappointment earlier this week, funding for high-speed rail for Michigan is getting back on track, federal railroad officials said Friday.
Amtrak, the national passenger railroad, announced it’ll be studying major track upgrades in Michigan, and making immediate improvements to some portions that’ll bring trains running from Chicago up to speeds of 110 mph on portions of track this year.
“We own a good portion of the infrastructure in Michigan and will be making significant improvements this year,” said Stephen Gardner, an Amtrak vice president. “We will also be working to expand those speeds on areas of track owned by our partner, Norfolk Southern.”
announced just $40 million would go to Michigan for high-speed rail grants. Nearly $1 billion was requested by the state; $8 billion was doled out nationally, most of it to rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois.Part of the funding for Illinois and Indiana will go to create a new track “fly-over” east of Chicago that will help eliminate congestion along the Wolverine and Blue Water service track lines, which service Michigan from the Windy City.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szebo said that project will help lay significant groundwork toward improving service to Michigan by removing a “huge bottleneck.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100130/METRO05/1300343/1409/METRO/Amtrak-to-upgrade-Mich.-rails#ixzz0e70x3agq