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The last train to roll out of Michigan Central Station was in 1988.
Amtrak trains could be rumbling down the tracks again, this time near the station, under a new plan that calls for the creation of a major transportation hub on the 30-acre campus of Michigan Central in Detroit's Corktown. The plan calls for bus and rail service as soon as 2029 next to the station.
The Michigan Department of Transportation, the city of Detroit, and Michigan Central announced Wednesday that they've entered into a memorandum of understanding, committing $40 million for initial research and engineering for what’s called the Michigan Central Innovation District.
Under the plan, the hub would, according to a press release:
► Serve as a new gateway, expanding access to the city and state with a direct connection between the Detroit–Ann Arbor Innovation Corridor and Detroit Metro Airport;
► Support economic opportunities by strengthening the region’s interconnected innovation ecosystem with a proposed extension of a Chicago–Detroit Amtrak Wolverine train to Windsor and Toronto; and
► Position Detroit as a leader in the region’s transit future, cementing Michigan as a destination for ongoing talent attraction and outside investment.
“Today’s MOU lays the foundation for a new multimodal transportation hub that will grow our regional economy, make downtown Detroit more vibrant, and connect residents and visitors to our communities,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “It builds on a historic investment in transit that I signed in my seventh balanced, bipartisan budget. Let’s keep getting it done.”
The Detroit Free Press reports that Detroit's current Amtrak station on W. Baltimore near Woodward and W. Grand Blvd. in the New Center area will remain in service. The proposed Michigan Central hub would, at least initially, only serve the Windsor/Toronto train service extension.
“As Detroit’s innovation ecosystem grows at an unprecedented rate, our transit infrastructure must evolve alongside it by linking entrepreneurs and companies to emerging innovation zones and the opportunities they unlock,” said Josh Sirefman, CEO of Michigan Central, in a statement.
