A major Michigan taxpayer hit for a rail project was among the bills tabled, after the lame duck House of Representatives failed to reach quorum on Wednesday.
The surprise legislative hiatus lets state taxpayers off the hook for millions of dollars to support the rail project that has been discussed for more than a decade but has seen few tangible results.
The proposed line from Traverse City and Petoskey to Ann Arbor, with a connection to Detroit, has been bandied about since at least 2011. However, the project, sometimes stylized as the A2TC project, took a leap forward with the recent hiring of a consultant.
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In 2023, the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities and the Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority, working with state and federal agencies, kicked off a 24-month project to develop a plan to outline how the new service might operate along the line and identify the top infrastructure needs.
In October, the WexExpress and Groundwork, previously the Michigan Land Use Institute, selected WSP, a professional services firm that “exists to future-proof our cities and our environment,” to work on the project’s second phase.
“Now [Michigan Democrats] want to spend a billion on a Choo Choo Train from Detroit to Traverse City,” state Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, posted to X. “Democrat riders will be taxpayer subsidized $1200 a ride. This is the fastest way to incinerate tax money.”
Added Maddock: “Rail and public transit is the fastest way to burn money from the makers. All the takers love mass transit.”
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Groundwork, which is leading the Northern Michigan Passenger Rail Project, led a feasibility study in 2018 that found railroad ridership would reach 1.2 million annually.
That number of riders, fewer than 3,300 riders per day, could gross $100 million in annual fares.
The 2018 GCRC study concluded that, in 2017 dollars, it would cost roughly $151 million to safely transport a 60-mph train on existing rails, including track and rail upgrades, bridges, train control systems, crossings, placeholder infrastructure, and equipment.
Nevertheless, the study concludes the service, “if fully developed as proposed, could cover its operating costs and that its economic benefits would substantially exceed its capital and operating costs.”
According to the study, the train’s speed depends on how much taxpayers pay.
While a 90-mph train would make the trip in four and a half hours, it would require an additional $611 million in track repairs and replacement. Conversely, a 110-mph train could make the trip in three and a half hours but would require an additional $140–$400 million.
Under the leadership of lame-duck president Joe Biden, who purports to love train travel, the federal government has dumped billions into the industry. Money-losing Amtrak has been a huge beneficiary of these taxpayer-backed handouts.
In October, the Federal Railroad Administration announced Michigan communities could receive up to nearly $119.8 million for various railroad improvement projects.
The state is no stranger to state-operated passenger trains. Taxpayers financially support the Blue Water between Chicago and Port Huron, the Pere Marquette between Grand Rapids and Chicago, and the Wolverine between Chicago and Detroit and Pontiac.
The Michigan Department of Transportation manages 665 miles of state-owned rail lines. Five freight railroads contract to operate over the lines, and Amtrak operates intercity passenger rail service on a 135-mile state-owned line between Kalamazoo and Dearborn.
The state-sponsored Borealis trains, which began operating between St. Paul and Chicago on May 21, 2024, could provide a comparison for the Michigan project. Amtrak lauded the service after announcing that more than 100,000 travelers hopped on the train within the first six months.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the train, which cost $53 million in federal and local money and has been in the works since 2015, averages about 650 daily passengers. It takes roughly 7 hours and 24 minutes to travel 411 miles and averages a speed of about 55 miles per hour.
To fund the service, the FRA awarded a $12.6 million Restoration & Enhancement Program grant in May 2020 to offset operational costs for the first three years. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois taxpayers are responsible for ongoing operating costs.