Michigan gets additional grant money for KAL-DER

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NSSD70ACe
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Michigan gets additional grant money for KAL-DER

Unread post by NSSD70ACe »

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kzoo-and-bc ... ain-lines/

$23 million for upgrades between Kalamazoo and Dearborn, including crossings, ties, rails, and two bridges in JXN.
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MiddleMI
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Re: Michigan gets additional grant money for KAL-DER

Unread post by MiddleMI »

So, this is in addition to the tens-of-millions of dollars that have gone into projects up and down the line, already? I'm curious about which parts of the line - aside from the two bridges in Jackson - they are talking about that needs fixing? I imagine it must be the line west of Jackson, because the line east has seen a significant amount of repair and expansion.

BTW, I believe this was the last in a series of threads on the Michigan Line:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34763&hilit=Michigan+Line&start=40

Ope, just found this:
The track rehabilitation project replaces approximately 80,000 ties east of Battle Creek and 15 track miles of rail east of Jackson. The project will also maintain a state of good repair and preserve passenger train speeds up to 110 mph and improve rail safety for Amtrak’s Wolverine service, which carries nearly 500,000 annual passengers. The bridge replacements at Jackson St. and Mechanic St. in the City of Jackson will replace the deteriorated existing structures with new spans. The current structures rely on temporary shoring and have sub-standard vertical clearances, resulting in frequent bridge strikes by highway vehicles. The new spans will reduce or eliminate bridge strikes and reconfigure and expand sidewalks under the structures to improve pedestrian safety.

https://www.railpassengers.org/happenin ... -projects/
Sounds like thw two bridges are the major part of this project, or at least the most interesting part. When they say "reduce or eliminate bridge strikes" that means lowering the grade of the streets below, right?

Super Chief
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Re: Michigan gets additional grant money for KAL-DER

Unread post by Super Chief »

Hopefully they set aside money to get the satellites to talk to each other. CN had the Battle Creek corridor shut down the other day to Amtrak trains as ITCS vs PTC weren't communicating with each other and the Amtrak train got to run 20feet and stop, repeat that multiple times 20 & stop. Now I know different operating systems can't be linked but someone with more communications savy then I could please shed some light on how MDOT is gonna fix this? The other day 4 signal maintainers in Kalamazoo one in each bungalow between the station and BO while the morning rush went thru. Each one had a pickup truck but it makes me wonder if any know whats going on?

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Saturnalia
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Re: Michigan gets additional grant money for KAL-DER

Unread post by Saturnalia »

Before the State ran out of the original funding, they completed the track improvements from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek, Battle Creek to Jackson, and Ypsi to Dearborn. However all of the line did receive the Darth Vader signal treatment and ITCS. They principally need to finish re-aligning curves, completing grade crossing improvements, etc from Jackson to Ypsi - the most challenging and expensive stretch because almost none of that line is tangent track. Work includes increasing superelevation and re-aligning select curves to make them not quite so sharp - work complicated by fiber-optic on both sides of the railroad.

Sounds like this grant will be mostly track maintenance, plus some of those improvements east of Jackson plus those two aging Jackson bridges. We'll see what comes of the latest round of "fix the roads" talk in Lansing, but many are hoping that such new transportation funding includes work to finish out this project.
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