The federal government will allow passenger trains to travel as fast as 110 miles an hour on stretch of rail between Kalamazoo and Porter-Indiana. It's the first stretch of enhanced rail service that will eventually significantly shorten trips between Chicago and Detroit.
Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation got official word of the approval Tuesday.
Jeff Cranson, with M-DOT, says the enhanced speed rail line will feed into other Amtrak routes, and could inspire even more rail lines across Michigan.
"I think that's a ways off, but you've got to start somewhere and starting on the busiest travel corridor, and to build momentum, show people what can be done, and eventually push for that. It's one of those things, what goes around comes around.
"In Petoskey, you see all those homes, Bayview - they were built by people from Chicago who took the train to get up there. So, yeah, I think train travel is going to make a comeback," he says.
The Michigan-to-Chicago route will be the first 110-mile-an-hour line in the country outside the northeastern United States.
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