Michigan Central Station (Photo by Albert Duce)
Michigan Central Station (Photo by Albert Duce)
It's not a particularly unique idea of bringing trains back to the Michigan Central Station train depot. But it would obviously take some doing.
Matthew Moroun, son of Matty Moroun, whose family owns the vacant station, tells Crain's Detroit Business reporter Chad Livengood of his vision for trains returning to the station after nearly 30 years.
Moroun envisions the depot having a straight-shot rail line to Detroit Metropolitan Airport and being a stop for Amtrak’s high-speed train routes to Chicago and a connection to Ontario’s VIA through the adjacent rail tunnel that dips below the Detroit River.
One of the biggest obstacles to redeveloping the train station is its location along Michigan Avenue on the outskirts of Corktown, nearly two miles west of Campus Martius in the central business district.
To overcome that barrier, Moroun said a second QLine streetcar line could be built along Michigan Avenue to connect downtown with the depot (like there used to be in the first half of the 20th century, as evidenced by old rails exposed along Michigan).
Moroun is floating the idea to transportation planners and government officials ahead of Wednesday's Detroit Homecoming, produced by Crain's, which will be held at the Michigan Central Station.
Many wealthy former Detroiters will be in attendance.
Amtrak's last trains ran through the station in January 1988.
