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MICHIGAN TRAINS MOST TARDY IN AMTRAK SYSTEM Chicago - Grand Rapids/Port Huron/Detroit - Pontiac YTD: 27.8 percent July: 19.4 percent
"The Michigan Services is a sort of umbrella term for what is actually three different routes traversing Michigan from the Amtrak hub in Chicago. The Wolverine runs between Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, just outside Detroit, the Pere Marquette between Chicago and Grand Rapids, while the Blue Water connects Chicago to Port Huron."
"The saddest part about this route making the list of latest trains in the system is that Amtrak owns a significant portion of the tracks—roughly from just outside Chicago to the Michigan city of Kalamazoo—which allows trains to reach relatively high speeds of nearly 100 mph. Unfortunately, the problems in Chicago that delay trains across the nation make a big impact here. The parts of the tracks that Amtrak doesn’t own in Michigan aren’t much better."
The name "Michigan" is derived from Lake Michigan, which is believed to come from the Chippewa Indian word "meicigama", meaning "great water."
THE FOUR OTHER MOST TARDY TRAINS
The Vermonter The California Zephyr Missouri Services The Texas Eagle
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Actually, the part that AMTRAK owns begins at Porter, IN (40 miles east of CHI), not "just outside of Chicago," and goes to K'zoo (Wolverine & Blue Water routes) -- also, there is no AMTRAK-owned trackage on the Pere Marquette route
rresor Member # 128
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The problems Amtrak has with timekeeping in Michigan have to do mainly with the need to negotiate schedules with two Class Is. Some years ago, Amtrak trains were routed onto the GTW through Battle Creek, to enable the city to do some downtown redevelopment by removing the former MC. So any changes to schedules have to be approved both by NS, which of course owns the Chicago -- Porter segment and also from Kalamazoo to Detroit (with a short piece of "little Conrail" in there too) and by CN. Making this worse is the fact the NS from Elkhart into Chicago is a very busy railroad. NS has proposed schedule revisions that will never have two Amtrak trains having to meet between Porter and Chicago, but that means changing times at Battle Creek, which CN has resisted.
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