Today's Railroads in Michigan...
Railroads in Michigan are almost 200 years old, beginning in 1836 and reaching their peak in trackage about 1916. Since that time, each year has seen abandonments and reduced passenger and freight traffic, all coinciding with the deindustialization of Michigan's major cities and a move of passenger to airlines and automobiles. A majority of Michigan railroad lines have disappeared in the last 100 years.
Today, the railroad operations which are left generally fit into one of these six categories:
- Overhead freight/intermodal traffic from Sarnia to the Chicago area via the Port Huron tunnel and Battle Creek on the CN
- Overhead freight/intermodal traffic from Windsor through the tunnel and on NS trackage rights towards Chicago by the CP
- Automobile and auto parts traffic from the Detroit area to points southeast, south and west on the NS, CSX and CN
- Iron ore taconite transport from the Marquette iron range to docks and all-rail shipments to a few steel mills
- Unit trains of coal, grain and sugar beets to power plants, agri-businesses and sugar processing plants near Bay City
- Amtrak passenger trains to and from Chicago, Detroit, Port Huron and Grand Rapids
- The remainding branch lines throughout the state carry only 1-2 freight trains per day each way mostly on shortline railroads
This website is divided into two sections. Today's Railroads features current railroad operation including links to Michigan's operating railroads. The RRHX Railroad History section features almost 200 years of past railroads, from the establishment of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad in 1836 to today.
Image info: Canadian National track maintenance crews weld a rail repair at Tappan, near Port Huron. [Dan Meinhard]
Newsfeed from Google: Railroads
News Feed - Railroads
27 July 2024
- Perverse Incentives Have Ruined America’s Railroads - ProMarket
- SMART-TD Statement on Railroad Safety Enhancement Act of 2024 - Smart Union
- $15 million Rusk County railroad project to bring hundreds of jobs to East Texas - CBS19.tv KYTX
- OP-ED: The 9-to-5 commute may be over: The U.S. commuter rail renaissance is just beginning - Mass Transit Magazine
- How a Canada railroad workers’ strike could affect supply chains - Supply Chain Dive
- Short Line Safety Institute releases results of safety culture assessments - TRAINS Magazine
- Rushed railcar inspections and ‘stagnated’ safety record reinforce concerns after fiery Ohio crash - CNN
- 17-year-old ‘railroad enthusiast’ charged in Bennet train derailment - KLKN
- Train hits, kills woman on railroad tracks in Southwest Charlotte - WBTV
- The historic Alton swinging railroad bridge over the Mississippi - Alton Telegraph
- CSX.com - CSX Unveils Heritage Locomotive Honoring Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad - CSX
- East Texas railroad to get multi-million dollar renovation - KLTV
- SMART-TD, regulators testify that railroads can’t be trusted to regulate themselves - Smart Union
- House Hearing on Rail Safety - Eno Transportation Weekly
- NCDOT awards grants to improve short line railroads - Greater Fayetteville Business Journal