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.
Photo info/credit: Canadian National track maintenance crews weld a rail repair at Tappan, near Port Huron. [Dan Meinhard]
Newsfeed from Google: Railroads
News Feed - Railroads
06 June 2023
- Biden administration gives out $570 million in grants to eliminate railroad crossings across US - Fox News
- Norfolk Southern is 1st railroad to give all workers sick time as others negotiate with unions - ABC News
- 400 railroad crossings will be upgraded or eliminated under new program - The Washington Post
- Train hits car parked on Wabaunsee Co. railroad tracks - WIBW
- The steepest railroad grade is no more - TRAINS Magazine
- NJ Transit, other railroads want Madison Square Garden to move, new report says - NJ.com
- Orange County Line rail tracks closed by San Clemente landslide - CBS News
- In Retrospect: Tracking down railroads gives us a sense of our past - Boulder Daily Camera
- For decades, trains have blocked in Hensley residents; a new section of track is poised to change that - Arkansas Online
- Railroad Investigators Searching For Cause Of Train Derailment In Stephens County - news9.com KWTV
- Norfolk Southern is first railroad to give all workers sick days—like most other industries have done for decades - Fortune
- Norfolk Southern is first railroad to give all workers sick time but all ... - MyNorthwest
- At the heritage museum: railroads in Transylvania County - The Transylvania Times
- Lake Recreation Areas, Railroads Reopen After Fire at Wilderness ... - 9 & 10 News
- U.S. hands out railroad crossing grants - Arkansas Online
