Crain's Commentary-Detroit an International Rail Gateway

[Sean N]

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/other-voi ... 1-headline

Commentary: Time is now to make Detroit an international rail gateway
David Friedrichs
David Friedrichs is a licensed builder, an economics graduate of MSU and founder of Ann Arbor-based Homeland Builders of Michigan, also known as Homeland Solar.

As critical transportation connectors, the double-stack freight tunnel under the Detroit River would be a “trade companion” to the Gordie Howe International Bridge and catapult Michigan into a new century of jobs, population and business growth, writes Dave Friedrichs.

Great dreams of continental, even global, trade have captured the imaginations of those on both sides of the Detroit River for over 300 years.

"Get Going On Gateway" was the editorial of Bridge Magazine in April 2012. The cry was to rise up and rally global intermodal trade through Detroit, on rail as well as roadways and Metro Airport's aerotropolis.

The idea, wrote Center for Michigan founder Phil Power, was to transform Michigan into a Great Lakes Global Gateway forged from our existing manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

The vision called for adding continent-spanning rail infrastructure to create North America's lowest-cost freight transportation center right here, in the industrial heartland — alongside the Gordie Howe International Bridge. As critical transportation connectors, the double-stack freight tunnel under the Detroit River would be a "trade companion" to the Gordie Howe bridge and catapult Michigan into a new century of jobs, population and business growth.

Earlier this year, when Amtrak announced its plan to expand offerings through Detroit, rail enthusiast Marge Byington, based in Grand Rapids, realized the stars had re-aligned. From her years with the Department of Commerce and in economic development for Detroit, she said she'd learned "timing can be everything." As a friend, she phoned me. We agreed: Now is the time. We also found ourselves applauding the cornerstone commitments to the city of recent years, private especially, but also federal and state infrastructure funds.

For Marge, the field of dreams for Detroit is a Tunnel of Dreams, namely, a Continental Rail Gateway. Sized to handle double-stacked freight containers, a rail gateway would meet 21st century rail transport standards and be built right under the existing Detroit-Windsor rail tunnel Amtrak and Canadian Pacific Railway aim to transition to passenger service.

The Continental Rail Gateway would also complement (and back up) the existing and equally valuable Canadian National double-stacked freight tunnel operating since 1995, Sarnia to Port Huron. And by the definition of intermodal, freight-by-rail supplements bridge commerce as insurance against all but nationally ordered border closures, which might have come in handy earlier this year when protesters closed the Ambassador Bridge.

A detailed construction plan for the rail gateway has been developed and resides with Canadian Pacific, sole owner of the existing rail tunnel, in talks with Amtrak and also a major U.S. expansion of its own.

A 2012 study by Wayne State economist Michael Belzer found that a Detroit Gateway (Hamburg via Halifax) could reduce both costs and days of transit up to 20 percent. The supply chain benefits, he believes, will impact all sectors: manufacturing, agricultural and distribution.

Referring to Detroit as a global freight gateway and inland port, Belzer concluded the city, county and state can leverage locations and assets with public-private partnerships to make Michigan the Midwest's freight gateway to the world.

Of the 11 megaregions of population and trade in North America, the Great Lakes megaregion is the largest.

Through several administrations, Michigan Department of Transportation, Michigan Economic Development Corp. and other state agencies have made plans to develop one or more modern, efficient 21st century intermodal hubs for national logistics and distribution in and around Detroit. Labeled D.I.F.T. (Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal) and also talked of as L.I.F.T. (Linear or even Binational), these plans went on the shelf at the time of Detroit's bankruptcy.


The fate and opportunities of this hour, this decade, are very different. So yes, timing may be everything. If the Continental Rail Gateway Tunnel of Dreams is built now, there's every reason to believe "they will come," perhaps in a lineup as seen on screen in "Field of Dreams." Cornerstone commitments worth billions are in place. National tech firms are leaning in and heading Detroit's way. Can national logistics and distribution remain at a distance?

The vision of completing and connecting global markets, while lowering costs for both exporters and importers, is transformational. Taking advantage of Detroit's unique geography and history to benefit all who share the continent's heartland excites interest and will draw an enthusiastic crowd.

That crowd is needed to build what's already on the drawing boards, thanks to Pure Michigan, the annual Detroit Homecomings and downtown business investments, made and pledged. The growth may well turn the tide for census takers, too, just as happened 100 years ago when the auto industry answered aspirations and fulfilled dreams for Michiganders, for the heartland and the nation.

If stars are aligned for Marge's Tunnel of Dreams, as she and I believe, the Detroit Gateway can become continental and global within a decade. It may be only a matter of time for private sector interests to achieve and expand improved intermodal yards and express ties to and around Metro and Willow Run, let alone Halifax and Hamburg. Let's "Get Going on Gateway"!

[DaveO]

One problem is most of our intermodal freight is coming from China/Asia and Detroit is in the wrong location for that.
As noted, CN has a nice tunnel which isn't overused so there's that.
Also the shaved tunnel can handle double stacks, just not if both are 9'6".
Missing is the recognition that parts of the US rail network can't handle any double stacks.
But yet...
Nothing will happen unless the Canadians buy in first.

[Steve B]

The new tunnel plan was shelved indefinitely in June 2015. At the time, Borealis owned 83.5% of the tunnel and CP just 16.5%. Perhaps now that CP owns 100% of it the prospects for a new one are slightly better. Probably not though, with PSR and declining traffic.

It's indeed frustrating that Canada paid for the Gordie Howe but not for a new RR tunnel. The government effectively paid for the new St. Clair Tunnel, since it opened 7 months before CN was privatized.