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
- Hays County granted $39 million for railroad overpass along Centerpoint Road - KXAN Austin
- Tulsa Garden Railroad Club opens miniature railroads to public - News On 6
- Metrolink Pacific Surfliner railroad in San Clemente closes as intense weather crashes coast - New York Post
- If This Railroad Merger Isn’t Approved, It Hurts America - Railway Age
- PROPOSED RAILROAD MERGER COULD SEE SECOND CANADIAN RAILROAD ROLL THROUGH AREA - KMMO
- North Carolina Railroad Co. awards grants for industrial site preparation - trains.com
- Reidsville train crash: Railroad closed as semi remains stuck, driver escapes collision - WXII
- From the Chicago suburbs to short line railroad companies, proposed merger heightens concerns - Chicago Tribune
- 6 Kalamazoo street closures scheduled for railroad work - mlive.com
- Cherry Street Closure Planned for Railroad Work - northfortynews.com
- Proposed railroad merger update and implications - Ohio's Country Journal
- Work continues on railroads, roads in county - Delaware Gazette
- New Delaware Public Archives Exhibit Explores How Railroads Transformed the First State - State of Delaware News (.gov)
- Federal Law Ties Tuscaloosa's Hands When Trains Block Crossings - Tuscaloosa Thread
- Platform 60201: A history of Evanston’s railroads - The Daily Northwestern
