The Michigan dailies had a
rather detailed article on the major change scheduled for the financial structure of the Michigan Services. For years, Michigan has subsidized the less heavily traveled Blue Water and Pere Marquette services, but Amtrak funded the Wolverine's losses. But, because of a deal struck in Congress five years ago that just went into effect for this fiscal year - I'm guessing because the Northeast services felt their money was going to subsidize services outside their region - Michigan will now have to subsidize the Wolverine, themselves. This means going from a total subsidy for the Michigan Services of $8 million in the previous fiscal year, to $25 million, this fiscal year.
The official line is that this is because Amtrak has sunk a lot of capital into services and line, and they've become more popular, but they certainly aren't popular enough yet, obviously. But, what is done is done. Now, $25 million isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things, but with the political environment we're in both nationally and at the state level in Michigan, I could totally see the state legislators very soon saying "eff it" and simply denying funding for the subsidies. With them in pretty open revolt against Snyder after he forced through the Medicaid expansion, I'm really nervous about the future of the Michigan Services.
Speaking of the services, after a pretty significant delay, my region's redone Amtrak station will finally start prep work by the end of the year. What I'm most excited about for this project is that since it sits at a rail intersection, they've designed it so that a platform can be set up along the CSX tracks on the south side of the station for the possibility of regional rail service to Detroit or Grand Rapids if anyone can ever pull that off.
Quote:
East Lansing Amtrak station project to start this year
By Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal
October 5, 2013
EAST LANSING — Train travelers through East Lansing, take note: The region’s aging Amtrak station is coming down.
The station likely will be torn down before the end of the year. By early 2015, a new transportation station is expected to open in its place at the roughly 9-acre site near Harrison and Trowbridge roads that will make it easier for passengers to get in and out of the city by train, bus or taxi.
...
A $10.5 million project to upgrade the station, first announced a year ago, is moving forward after the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration released $6.3 million in grant money to help fund the effort. The grant was held up while project coordinators, led by the Capital Area Transportation Authority, finished environmental documents and an appraisal.
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CATA hasn’t set a start date, but said the existing station is expected to be demolished before the new year. Construction could start in the spring. The building’s design is about half finished, said Debbie Alexander, CATA’s assistant executive director. She initially thought the project could be completed this year, but it was postponed due to a delay in releasing grant funds.
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I've seen a prelim site plan, and it's pretty underwhelming. Because of where the station is located, unless your an MSU student, it's basically going to be a giant park-and-ride, since it's only directly on a university-based bus line (as opposed to the Lansing CATA hub). But it'll be better than the embarrassment of a thing that passes for a station, now (i.e. literally an old, redone storage building for the university).
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