Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasoncw
#7 in the site plan is the "mobility platform". The renderings show the roof of that area, but I didn't catch what they were doing with the inside (underneath) of that area.
The building extends all the way to Newark Street to the south. To me it seems like there's plenty of space to add platforms, and put in other station stuff underneath. And if they really wanted more space they could build over Newark Street.
Because of its location, Michigan Central Station is never going to be a major train station again.
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So here's the thing. The "mobility platform" preserves (or "preserves", depending on how you feel about it) the station box, but
a station box is useless without a throat. The station box is just space for platforms and attendant tracks, but the throat is what connects the tracks in the station box to the mainline. It's just like how entrance and exit ramps connect freeways to local streets. Without those ramps, you couldn't access the freeway and therefore the freeway would be useless. In the same way, by blocking the station throat,
Ford is ensuring that Michigan Central's station box is unusable in ANY capacity. This is an issue that needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
A station is more than its grand concourse. Ford preserving the main concourse but blocking the throat that's actually needed to make an operational station reveals their true priorities. Hell, you can even convert the baggage undercroft into a new concourse if you wanted to (and that's not a bad idea, either). What is most important here is making sure that the space dedicated to the station's transportation functions is not disrupted. Otherwise whatever scraps of space are left over become unusable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroitSky
There was also talk a few months ago of Toledo launching a regional line to Detroit.
If MCS ever does become a station again, I wouldn't be surprised if the Woodward Amtrak stays open to serve the Wolverine. It's unlikely the Oakland County stations will close, especially with the one in Troy being so new. And if we ever get commuter rail around here, it would make sense for a Pontiac/Flint line to terminate at the Woodward station and continue to use the stations in Royal Oak, Troy and Pontiac. That line would still have the option to terminate at MCS and use Woodward as an intermediate stop serving the New Center area.
That would leave MCS potentially with trains to Toronto/Montreal, Toledo and Traverse City and commuter lines to Pontiac/Flint, the airport, Ann Arbor and Mount Clemens/Port Huron.
We can dream can't we? Lmao
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The Wolverine's Detroit-Pontiac run is a weird little thing, quasi-commuter rail already. Taking over this service with actual commuter rail would be good. So would be using the route out to Pontiac to launch Detroit-Flint and Detroit-Lansing-Grand Rapids-Muskegon regional rail!
Any and all of these things would require a proper Detroit terminal, which is what Michigan Central offers. There is an alternative which is moderately feasible for US service (using old ROW to run into a new facility probably under the Cobo Center) but Michigan Central is the most feasible terminal facility for Canadian service, so maintaining a station box--and its attendant throat--there remains important.
Ford's site plan irks me because (a) they jam everything into the throat, which is the worst possible space from a rail-transportation standpoint, and (b) they leave lots of unused greenspace where they should be putting nice urban blocks. It's obvious where their priorities lay, and those priorities aren't about good urban stewardship or good placemaking.