Echo

Freight trains pull their weight in energy savings

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By Vince Bond Jr.
Jan. 12, 2010

LANSING, Mich. – The next time you’re stuck watching a seemingly endless train at a railroad crossing, look at it as a down payment on your next electricity bill. Whether freight trains are delivering coal to power plants in mid-Michigan or transporting iron ore in the Upper Peninsula, they still have what it takes to pull the economy forward, said Robert Chaprnka, president of the Michigan Railroads Association. Almost half of the nation’s electricity comes from coal and 70 percent of that is transported by rail, the association reports.

Land

Light rail plans would serve downtown Detroit and connect city to Ann Arbor, Traverse City

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By Adam DeLay
Nov. 15, 2009
LANSING, Mich. — Southeast Michigan officials are pushing for a commuter rail connecting Ann Arbor and Detroit, as well as a light rail running between downtown Detroit and the New Center area along Woodward Avenue. Kirk Steudle, director of the Department of Transportation, said the projects have the potential to offer better options to travelers in the area. “Gas prices hit $4 a gallon last year and will go up again,” he said.

Echo

Stimulus-backed high-speed rail could benefit Great Lakes region; environmental benefits uncertain

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
June 22, 2009

The prospect of traveling from Chicago to Detroit at 110 mph might be more feasible with the recent release of federal rules for obtaining a piece of the $8 billion in stimulus funds for the high-speed rail. The criteria looks good for the Great Lakes region as it favors multi-state proposals. Regional transportation officials have proposed a high-speed rail with a central hub in Chicago that travels to Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and other cities. But will people give up their automobiles and make the shift? “The high-speed rail can look really good environmentally,” said Mikhail Chester, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

Echo

Building a new rail system is best, experts say

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(MI) Detroit Free Press – A proposed magnetic railway along I-96 to Lansing and Ann Arbor would be faster and safer for passengers than a high-speed rail that uses existing tracks, a legislative tatask force was told Monday. In fact, the federal government should focus more on building a technologically advanced high-speed passenger rail system along interstate highways, rather than upgrading tracks owned and used by freight rail companies, said Steve Purchase, a spokesman for H Inc., a Lansing urban development firm that is not affiliated with the proposed project. More