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
- AI vs. the railroads - Noahpinion
- Former railroad workers file lawsuit against Union Pacific over toxic exposures in Roseville - KCRA
- ‘An extremely powerful state agency’: Three candidates vie for Texas railroad commissioner - Houston Public Media
- Intermodal rail better by 10% in latest count - FreightWaves
- American Railroad Lobbies for Short Line Tax Credit Boost - Legis1
- The Most Dangerous Railroad Crossings In The United States - WorldAtlas
- T1 Trust acquires former Pennsylvania Railroad E8A diesels - Trains Magazine
- Driving in Summerfield Twp.? Railroad track work may affect your travels - Monroe News
- Steel ships, railroads, and data centers: A VC takes the Industrial Revolution analogy seriously - Fortune
- Susan Collins, Angus King announce funding for northern Maine railroad improvements - WABI
- Columbia receives $16.2M federal grant to modernize COLT railroad - KRCG
- M-13 and Emerson Street in Saginaw closing Monday for railroad repairs - WJRT ABC12
- SDDOT Seeks Public Input for Sioux Falls Railroad Corridor Analysis and Crossing Safety Study - South Dakota State News (.gov)
- As steel rises, Galesburg’s $1 million Railroad Hall of Fame pledge heads to council - WGIL
- Building What Two Railroads Can’t - Union Pacific
