SEMCOG delays start of Detroit-to-Ann Arbor commuter rail line

From Crain’s Detroit Business

Metro Detroit’s regional planning agency has pushed back its goal of having a demonstration commuter train line running daily between Ann Arbor and Detroit operating by October.

Instead, the line will operate for special events, such as University of Michigan football games and Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day parade, said Carmine Palombo, transportation project director for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

No new target date for the daily service has been set.

“The lack of existing funds to construct the needed projects to allow freight and passenger trains to travel safely in the corridor has altered our timeframe for providing the initial service,” he wrote in an e-mail to Crain’s on Friday.

The plan was to have four daily round-trips and three on the weekends, he said. Now, a list of events, times and costs is being worked out.