Stephen Gardner new Amtrak president

[Seaboard92]

Part of the problem with the Wolverine's in my opinion is that little branch up the Grand Trunk Western to Pontiac. I think Pontiac would be better served with a commuter train between it and Detroit to allow the Wolverine's to hit proper terminating cities such as Toledo, or Toronto.

At one point SEMTA did operate a commuter train to Pontiac and that just makes more sense.

 

[jiml]

It’s very correct. For some reason, this suggestion produced the all too common reaction in the railfan/rail advocacy community that it’s impossible.

There was nothing wrong with the accuracy of the map. It's just that the route shown is not the direct route from Niagara to Detroit that was used for previous Amtrak trains. That route is segmented and partially abandoned. The route shown on the otherwise excellent map is so much longer that it becomes not viable when compared to alternatives such as via Toledo. There is no point dealing with the other hassles of two border crossings if there is no time saving and no additional revenue from stops.

 

[toddinde]

There was nothing wrong with the accuracy of the map. It's just that the route shown is not the direct route from Niagara to Detroit that was used for previous Amtrak trains. That route is segmented and partially abandoned. The route shown on the otherwise excellent map is so much longer that it becomes not viable when compared to alternatives such as via Toledo. There is no point dealing with the other hassles of two border crossings if there is no time saving and no additional revenue from stops.

I would not suggest or support the route as an instead of for the Lake Shore. Only in addition to. I also think higher speed Chicago-Toronto and Toronto-New York with a change in Toronto might be more realistic than a through train. Both those routes should have an overnight train, and an easy connection could be made to day trains.