Local legislators to MDOT: Spare our Amtrak route

From The Holland Sentinel

For years, keeping the Pere Marquette Amtrak line has been a battle.

In 2010 the fight revolves around Michigan’s budget woes and Washington’s recent interest in high-speed rails.

Michigan Department of Transportation officials proposed rerouting the Pere Marquette around a dozen years ago. Instead of coming up the Lake Michigan coast through Holland to Grand Rapids, it would go to Kalamazoo, north to Grand Rapids and then west to Holland.

If a high-speed rail is built between Chicago and Detroit, the latter route could actually be faster. But coastal communities don’t want to lose what they consider a lifeline to Chicago tourists.

State Rep. Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, and five other lakeshore legislators asked MDOT officials to spare the route Thursday after a meeting Wednesday in St. Joseph.