ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Federal Railroad Administration has halted work on a long-proposed new passenger station for Ann Arbor, citing high cost and unacceptable design features.
MLive, the Ann Arbor News website, reports a letter from Jamie Rennert, director of the FRA’s Office of Infrastructure Development, told the city the agency would discontinue work on the environmental assessment of the station plan. The letter cited the high cost of a design that would place the station over the tracks because of space constraints and the amount of parking desired by the city, and said the design “exceeds intercity passenger rail needs.”
For more than a decade, the city has pursued construction of a new station adjacent to the University of Michigan Medical Center at Fuller Park, a 60-acre recreation area. Mayor Christopher Taylor called the FRA decision an “unwelcome surprise” and told the newspaper the current Amtrak depot is inadequate. The city is currently determining a response and has enlisted the help of the state Department of Transportation and U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn).
As of 2019, the city estimated final design of the new station would cost $14.7 million, with another $86 million required for the first phase of construction. A citizen group has estimated the project could cost as much as $171 million. The city has hoped the federal government would provide a substantial portion of the funding.
It’s indeed been a long time since I’ve rode out that way so admittedly I’m not conversant with the lay of the land and track being discussed. I’m just feeling this is one more passenger rail project falling into a depression deeper than the Mariana Trench. I mean Ann Arbor of all the Michigan Line stations, with its proximity to a major university campus and a student body that offers potential for ridership in just the demographic that most of us would like to see discover the pluses of passenger rail, needs a respectable station at a location that best answers the community’s needs. It seems that every new passenger rail initiative that comes along these days suffers reversals. Mr. Mortensen makes a good point that Ann Arbor should be able to platform two trains simultaneously. And simultaneously Michigan legislators at all levels should address the issue of these trains’ shaggy, to say the least from what I read at Trainorders, OTP due in part to ongoing mechanical failures of the new Chicago-based SC-44 Charger locomotives.
Half of the station parking is across the tracks and to get to the lot you have to walk across the bridge as Charles mentions. Pick-up and drop-off creates traffic jams because it is a very well-used station. It is also on a side street more or less under the aforementioned bridge. With only one track now (for years) there is so much room on the RR ROW that you could build a station there. What I think they need to do is add one or two sidings near the station (or just double-track it) so trains arriving at similar times don’t have to wait 15-20 minutes for the other one to pass.
Can someone explain how the design of building such as a train station can possibly cost almost $18 million. And $171 million total at completion. I’m all for train travel but this sounds excessive.
CHRIS – None of us have seen the plans. Parking garages cost more per stall than a Rolls Royce. Access roads, a bridge across whatever that street is to the North Campus, site improvements, all come at a price. The question isn’t only how much it costs but how it will be justified by the number of passengers using on a single-track railroad with three train pairs a day.
PS am I the only one who remembers the freight spur to the U-M commissary and the U-M power plant? That’s the site of the proposed new station. Been a while. I also remember the long freight trains, so frequent you could wait for the next one and still be at North Campus for dinner.
My real memory of Ann Arbor though is it led to my first Amtrak trip. My grad school roommate met his future wife at the aforementioned North Campus dinner, weeks before we finished in 1970. A year later, just after Amtrak’s founding, I road the Turbo from Boston to New York, then the Metroliner to Washington, for their Virginia wedding. Must say I was quite impressed with both trains!
The way I read it it’s 14.7 million just for the design. What’s the cost of the engineering ? I don’t know if that is part of the design stage.
The way I read it it’s 14.7 million just for the design. What’s the cost of the engineering ? I don’t know if that is part of the design stage.
There may not be as many trains as we like – but the stations have improved. Think Dearborn (Michigan), Champaign (Illinois), and every station on the Hiawatha route: MKE, MKA, Sturtevant (Wisconsin), Glenview (Illinois) and CUS. Yes we’d all like to see the 1970’s Amshack at Ann Arbor replaced. We would also hope for increased frequencies to support the new facility.
The proposed location would be closer to Med Center and the North Campus but further from the Main Campus and the downtown area. It would be an opportunity to improve urban connectivity and circulation between the above -mentioned locations. As for the cost, well, that’s to discuss another day.