Northern rail idea gathers money

[DetroitMan]

Looks like this service may be a reality by the end of next year.

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/ind....xml&coll=2

[wolverine]

It's hard to imagine this is only a few months away.

[Eridony]

I'm crossing my fingers for this project. If it works out it would be an encouraging sign to all the other cities in Michigan that have shown interest in commuter rail.

Does anyone know if there are estimates for how many people are likely to ride this line each day? Not to insult Howell, I know very little about that city, but I'm surprised the route would go there and not at least in the direction of Detroit. Is that simply the best existing rail line to use?

[mgman]

I think in earlier posts, it was said that 1,000 people per day were needed to make it work but I cannot remember if that is right or not. I was super excited when I saw the headline but was disappointed when I read farther and learned that gathering money actually meant just waiting for a decision. Hopefully the federal and state money will come true but until it happens I am not going to celebrate. It was also absurd to think that an early date would be plausible. Grants take too much time. Hopefully they can still make the new deadline.

[Raildudes dad]

Not to insult Howell, I know very little about that city, but I'm surprised the route would go there and not at least in the direction of Detroit. Is that simply the best existing rail line to use?

[nofunk]

It's hard to imagine this is only a few months away.

[cnordstrom]

If a commuter rail is going to succeed anywhere in Michigan, it's in A2. The rest of the state is still much too enamoured with their cars to put in a good faith effort at decent mass transit (Detroit, I'm lookin' at you!). I do understand the skepticism, though... A2 to Howell doesn't exactly jump to mind when I think of areas screaming for rail service. Still, if they go ahead with it and the plan succeeds, who's to say we won't see more rail development? I for one would LOVE to see a line go from Grand Rapids to Detroit, for example!