Has the entire track structure between Kalamazoo and Dearborn been upgraded to support 110 mph operation once the signalling/PTC/grade crossing piece of the upgrade has been completed?
Here's the site for the project:
http://greatlakesrail.org/~grtlakes/
It's apparently run by MIDOT but with support from the Indiana and Illinois DOTs as well.
So from what I am reading in the link, if they don't build, the trains will keep loosing money, but if they do fully build it out, they are projecting a profit from the operations? Also almost 2 hours shaved off the time is substantial.
Yes, that's it, tho probably better to say "surpluses" rather than "profits". The Midwest Regional Plan, iirc, envisioned that at least the main corridors (and maybe all) would generate surpluses, or positive returns, at some high level of frequencies and ridership.
Indeed, the Billion going into St Louis-CHI, cutting trip time by about an hour and adding another frequency, could be enuff to let the route show operating surpluses. (
And won't the haters hate that? No wonder Gov Ruiner is lying down on the tracks to try to stop the improvements to passenger rail that were underway in Illinois!)
The
Wolverines route has cost less money so far, but the big part of that job lies ahead -- South of the Lake, another $1.5 Billion, or $2 Billion. (One reason to watch that space -- the linked site -- is to see how the nearing decision on a preferred alternative may narrow down the cost range.)
The big spending to this point for CHI-DET has been at the "wrong end" of the route, the Detroit end, while the trains pick up more passengers as they head toward CHI. In the future, when SOTL is done and trip time slashed again, then more frequencies and more riders will bring operating surpluses.
If the STL-CHI
Lincoln Service is the big success I'm still expecting to see, it will become the shining example and the template for the other Midwest Regional corridors, like Cleveland-Toledo-CHI, Cincy-Indy-CHI, Twin Cities-Milwaukee-CHI, Lincoln-Omaha-Des Moines-Quad Cities-CHI, and other corridors across the country.