Great news!  The Michigan Senate just passed Senate bill 1164 which is the transportation appropriation bill for fiscal year 2011, ending September 2011.

This bill provides full funding for Intercity Passenger Rail service (Amtrak) of $8.667 M.  The bill must still pass the House, but we are optimistic that it will do so intact.  This funding impacts the Bluewater and Pere Marquette routes, which are partially funded through Michigan appropriations

This is a big step in that in previous years, funding has been cut and then MARP has gone through the year having to work with legislators on supplemental funding to ensure continuation of service for both of the state supported routes.  You may remember that for fiscal year 2010, funding was cut significantly, but a couple months ago the Supplemental appropriation was passed to ensure service will continue for the full year.

MARP continues to work very closely with our legislators to ensure service continues on all routes in Michigan and investment continues to be made on the high speed corridor between Detroit and Chicago. 

Ridership in April was up over 16% on all Michigan routes vs. 2009.