The project aimed at revitalizing passenger rail in Michigan is still chugging along.

Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, a key player in the long-gestating effort, announced today the rollout of a website and a public input survey for the North+South Passenger Rail project. Those milestones dovetail with the final months of a crucial “Phase II” study, which will answer key questions about route, train schedules, governance, travel speeds, and more. A full report is expected within the coming months, after which Groundwork and its partners will apply for the next round of federal approvals.

Carolyn Ulstad, Groundwork’s transportation program manager, sees the new website as an important boost for project awareness, transparency, and branding. 

“We wanted to provide a much clearer picture of what the project is about,” Ulstad explains. “Now, we’ll have a site where people can find an overview, a timeline page, a detailed study page, a page for public comment, and a page for news articles, all in one spot.”

It was October 2018 when Groundwork completed the initial feasibility study for reestablishing passenger rail service between Traverse City and Ann Arbor. The project, branded then as “A2TC,” was touted for its potential to attract 1.5 million riders and generate $100 million in revenue annually by 2040.

Seven years later, Ulstad admits the initial report – which recommended launching “excursion” or special-event trains as soon as 2020 – was too bullish in its timelines. The optimistic estimates – and Groundwork’s failure to meet them – resulted in many losing track of the project over the years.

“You hear from people saying, ‘Oh, this takes forever,’ and depending on what industry you work in, it might seem that way,” Ulstad says. “But for anyone who works in planning or engineering, it's not that long. We work in long timescales, because large infrastructure projects do take time. You have to go through all these different required steps, and they all take a few months or even a few years.”

Despite the slow progress, Ulstad insists North+South Passenger Rail has strong momentum. The project is in the midst of a “Phase II” study, which kicked off last year thanks to $2.3 million in state and federal grants. That study is looking at “everything from track conditions and route options to travel demand and cost estimates,” per the new website.

“This study goes deep into things like the frequency of the rail service, what times of day the train would be running, the track quality, and the cost of the upgrades that are likely needed,” Ulstad says. “It gets us way closer to the point where we can say: ‘This is the route, this is the schedule, these are the current tracks, and here’s how much it’s all going to cost.’”

Ulstad isn’t ready yet to share any projections on cost or timeline, but answers to other frequently asked questions are starting to emerge. Examples include the likely cost of train tickets (“affordable and competitive,” the website states, noting the typical $40 cost of a Detroit-to-Chicago Amtrak ticket as a reference point) and the speed the trains might travel (an average of 80 miles per hour).

Ulstad is pleased with those numbers, which she thinks would make passenger rail “economical and competitive with car travel.” She’s also pleased with early public feedback, following a 12-city tour Groundwork took in 2025 of communities along the proposed train route. From Clare to Mt. Pleasant to Ann Arbor, Ulstad says the North+South Passenger Rail team heard consistent interest and excitement from stakeholders – and not always for the same reasons.

“One of the things we want to know is why people are traveling,” she tells The Ticker. “Would you use this for work? For vacation? For medical appointments? Down in Detroit and Ann Arbor, we heard from a lot of people who said they would like to spend more leisure time in northern Michigan, but it’s a long drive. Whereas, in mid-Michigan, we heard more people saying they would like to use this train as a commuter service to get to work.”

Groundwork seeks more feedback with a new survey, which can be found here. 

“The purpose for doing this in-depth study is that it gets us ready to apply for the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor ID program, which is the FRA’s pipeline for projects,” Ulstad says. “Being in that program is really helpful. There is some money tied to it, but it also gives you help from FRA staff, and it gives your rail line a designation that essentially says ‘This is FRA-vetted and verified.’ All of that is helpful for getting into the next stages, which would be things like preliminary engineering and NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), which is the environmental process. And then, from the state’s perspective too, since this is a state-owned corridor, having all this extra work and analysis done makes it easier for them to make future decisions on what they own.”