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
20 April 2025
- Why Do Buses Have To Stop At Railroads? - SlashGear
- Lexington Group establishes H. Roger Grant Award for railroad history book - trains.com
- Crews battle fire along railroad in Monmouth - WABI
- Construction on downtown railroad tracks Tuesday – Thursday - My Southborough
- US railroads are positive about prospects - WorldCargo News
- Number of fires at Russian railroads increases in March, military intelligence says - The Kyiv Independent
- Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern railroad, chemical maker agree on who pays residents in settlement - WABE
- Trump tariff uncertainty, bad weather loom over railroads. Here’s why that matters. - MarketWatch
- The Bluff Line Railroad connected parts of Madison and Jersey County - Alton Telegraph
- Could short lines come to the rescue of Class I railroads? - FreightWaves
- Mississippi Delta Gets New Operator - Railfan & Railroad Magazine
- Railroad operator CSX misses quarterly estimates as coal revenue falls - Reuters
- Power of Goodwill: Woman rescued from railroad tracks - WTVM.com
- Road Closing For Repairs To Railroad Tracks - WFIN
- Louisiana Railroads Days Festival kicks off in DeQuincy - kplctv.com
