Mi-Train

[LSRC]

I'm pretty sure this paint reminds me of what a 4 year old can do with a crayon. However, the information about them running by Thanksgiving does pose a question: Where are they planning on loading/offloading passengers? At the Amtrak Stations? I thought that got denied?

[GTWChris]

I'm pretty sure this paint reminds me of what a 4 year old can do with a crayon. However, the information about them running by Thanksgiving does pose a question: Where are they planning on loading/offloading passengers? At the Amtrak Stations? I thought that got denied?

After Thanksgiving they will be running special trains from time to time to take people to events going on in Detroit and other places along the line. I think they will be using the Amtrak stations and it will not affect Amtrak since at most on a day they would only have two trains.

[KenB]

There should be no problem using the Amtrak stations. The Amtrak station in Dearborn, Mi is owned by the City of Dearborn. I think the Detroit station is owned by the City of Detroit. Ann Arbor station owned by Ann Arbor.
Amtrak will be operating the trains anywhey.

What is "wrong" with the paint scheme? If you have a better ( and cheaper) paint scheme, lets see it. Yes taxes will go UP but we can not build our way out of this mess that corporate executives have put us in.

In the bad old days, many offices and factories were in urban areas that had public transit for people to get to work but many executives wanted to be closer to the country club so they moved to distant suberbia so they would have a short ride to work but the masses would have to drive increasing the pressure for more subsized roads. With that came the demise of public transportation.

I had to go to Ann Arbor last week to check a job and in the morning I-94 just stopped with all of the traffic trying to get to AA. Yes, the highway department can do a better job of desinging the roads, re-timing the traffic control devices but if just half of these people would use transit traffice would be able to use existing roads.

Lets get our lawmakes on board and get this new MITRAIN going. If nothing else it gives us a different train to photograph and maybe we can get some of our Federal tax money back into this area instead of Virgina who just got 95 million for rail transit.

[LSRC]

I see. I wasn't aware that the cities owned the station.

What is "wrong" with the paint scheme? If you have a better ( and cheaper) paint scheme, lets see it.

Since everyone was voicing their opinions on how "wonderful" the paint looks, I felt the need to voice my opinion on how I felt about the paint. I think a dark "State of Michigan" blue would looks great with a solid yellow nose and the State of Michigan emblem on the side...

[msurailfan]

I see. I wasn't aware that the cities owned the station.

What is "wrong" with the paint scheme? If you have a better ( and cheaper) paint scheme, lets see it.

Since everyone was voicing their opinions on how "wonderful" the paint looks, I felt the need to voice my opinion on how I felt about the paint. I think a dark "State of Michigan" blue would looks great with a solid yellow nose and the State of Michigan emblem on the side...

Take those UofM goggles off
Besides, that would probably look too much like CSX paint

[Buster Manning]

I was thinking a darker blue would 'work' better with that green and silver.......although in my eyes, all that pretty paint won't look as good if those engines don't pull worth a darn!!!

[John Ryan]

I'm going to go against the flow here and state that the paint scheme is horrible. Not attractive at all. I think this is, without a doubt, the worst commuter rail paint scheme that I've ever seen, and it certainly isn't the product of any sort of professional branding campaign. The passe green and blue colors suggest a certain dated out-of-touch 1980's mentality, and all the dashes and dots of random lengths mirror the chaos behind this service. How many startup target dates and deadlines have been missed because the people behind this service didn't understand what was involved in running a passenger train?

What would be an improvement? Look at the North Carolina service. Look the state-sponsored trains in California. Or the Talgo service in the Pacific Northwest. All bold, modern colors and flowing lines, with professionally done logos. Even the EMD styling people would vomit at this "MiTrain" concept.

I hope that this service attracts ridership, but I've seen so much slapdash planning behind it that I'm worried that if the service fails, the Republicans in the state will take this issue and run with it, and then that will be the end of any future state support for passenger rail. Does anyone remember what happened when the Burlington, VT commuter train appeared on "The Fleecing of America"?

[JANGAJONGA]

Chyea!! more color through AA!

[Y@]

I see. I wasn't aware that the cities owned the station.

What is "wrong" with the paint scheme? If you have a better ( and cheaper) paint scheme, lets see it.

Since everyone was voicing their opinions on how "wonderful" the paint looks, I felt the need to voice my opinion on how I felt about the paint. I think a dark "State of Michigan" blue would looks great with a solid yellow nose and the State of Michigan emblem on the side...

I'm right with Jim, that paint scheme sucks. Looks like absolute crap.

[SD80MAC]

Looks ok to me. Could be better, sure, but at least it's not purple or something. I think these will look nice with the bi-levels.

[GTW6401]

I can almost guarantee that even those who are negative about the paint will be out taking photos of this train when it starts running. My opinion on the paint is that the light colors will show off every speck of road grime and fade quicker.

Its possible that the commuter equipment might be around that long if everything is leased. I'm personally taking a wait and see attitude regarding this service. A part of me is also skeptical on it also, mostly due to the fact there isnt a direct rail link to Downtown Detroit. They need to be smart and schedule trains to maximize ridership and reduce delays.

[JANGAJONGA]

They got the grant!! http://detnews.com/article/20101025/MET ... rail-route

[msurailfan]

They got the grant!! http://detnews.com/article/20101025/MET ... rail-route

Uhm...correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like that grant is geared more toward upgrading Amtrak's service to high-speed, not toward bolstering MiTrain's funds. Am I misreading that?

[JANGAJONGA]

They got the grant!! http://detnews.com/article/20101025/MET ... rail-route

Uhm...correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like that grant is geared more toward upgrading Amtrak's service to high-speed, not toward bolstering MiTrain's funds. Am I misreading that?

I thought it said between k-zoo and dearborn, which i thought might apply?

[msurailfan]

They got the grant!! http://detnews.com/article/20101025/MET ... rail-route

Uhm...correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like that grant is geared more toward upgrading Amtrak's service to high-speed, not toward bolstering MiTrain's funds. Am I misreading that?

I thought it said between k-zoo and dearborn, which i thought might apply?

I agree it would apply to the actual trackage between Ann Arbor and Dearborn, but I'm not sure if this also means that MiTrain will be getting any funds for infrastructure (cars, engines, etc.).
And then of course this would mean track upgrades between Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, which would be solely Amtrak (or NS), unless the plan is to expand MiTrain out that far? Which I didn't think was the case.
Either way, I'm glad this grant was approved. It's great for the state's passenger rail future. Just not sure how much, if any, will be allocated to SEMCOG and MiTrain.

EDIT: Yea I think this grant only applies to Amtrak. Like I said the trackage is the same for both MiTrain and Amtrak, but this is geared more toward Amtrak. Mlive.com has an article (http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index ... 0m_fe.html) that states, in the last paragraph, that SEMCOG has been separately seeking funds from grants. At least that's the way I'm interpreting it.

[John Ryan]

This grant relates primarily to infrastructure related to Amtrak, though MiTrain would benefit from some of the signal upgrades and trackwork in the Detroit area. However, the main thrust, getting Amtrak up to 110 mph for most of this segment, doesn't apply at all to the commuter train.

You might want to think about getting your shots of the old NYC and Conrail signals on this line sooner rather than later, especially around any interlockings.

[msurailfan]

This grant relates primarily to infrastructure related to Amtrak, though MiTrain would benefit from some of the signal upgrades and trackwork in the Detroit area. However, the main thrust, getting Amtrak up to 110 mph for most of this segment, doesn't apply at all to the commuter train.

You might want to think about getting your shots of the old NYC and Conrail signals on this line sooner rather than later, especially around any interlockings.

What kind of signals are you referring to? I don't hang around that NS line much....

[MDH]

New song:

This train is MI train,This train is your train,
From Ann Arbor to the city of Detroit,
From the posh suburbs to the slumy city,
This train was made for you and me.

If you ever ride that ribbon of railway,
Instead of that big wide highway,
It'll be a miracle of public funding,
This train will be paid for by you and me.

[TrainWatcher]

New song:

This train is MI train,This train is your train,
From Ann Arbor to the city of Detroit,
From the posh suburbs to the slumy city,
This train was made for you and me.

If you ever ride that ribbon of railway,
Instead of that big wide highway,
It'll be a miracle of public funding,
This train will be paid for by you and me.

Mr. Harding, PLEASE! Stick to your day job.

Mr. Ryan, I hate to say it but all of the "interlocking" signals on this end of the line are very hard to photograph let alone note worthy.

[AARR]

New song:

This train is MI train,This train is your train,
From Ann Arbor to the city of Detroit,
From the posh suburbs to the slumy city,
This train was made for you and me.

If you ever ride that ribbon of railway,
Instead of that big wide highway,
It'll be a miracle of public funding,
This train will be paid for by you and me.

Sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land" It's got a finger snapping toe tapping beat