Michigan's railroad future rushing like a runaway train

LANSING — Are railroads part of our romantic past, or an important and growing part of Michigan’s transportation future?

The answer, it seems clear, is: Yes.

Joe Schwarz, a former congressman from Battle Creek and a lifelong railroad buff, is Gov. Rick Snyder’s official and “highly unpaid” — as Mr. Schwarz puts it — adviser to keep the governor on track, so to speak.

This year, he worked successfully on a deal to improve a stretch of rail line from Detroit to Chicago, so passenger trains can go faster.

“Once we get this done, we can cut the time it takes to get to Chicago by train to about four hours,” Mr. Schwarz said. “That’s about the time it takes to get to [Detroit Metropolitan Airport], get through security, fly, and get to downtown Chicago, with less hassle and cheaper.”

That seems likely to appeal to a lot of people who put up with security checks at the airport, or long backups on I-94 to get there. Even now, 600,000 people a year travel from Detroit to Chicago by train, and a faster trip seems certain to attract more.

Plenty of Americans have romantic ideas about train travel. Many have experienced speedy and quiet bullet trains in Japan, or fast and comfortable passenger trains in Europe.

So are we on the eve of a huge renaissance in passenger train travel in Michigan? Unfortunately for railroad buffs, probably not.

Amtrak may add a few routes, and a few sections of track may be improved, such as the stretch from Kalamazoo to Dearborn.

But the real action belongs to America’s freight railroad companies, which own most of Michigan’s 3,590 miles of track. They operate a business that is profitable and growing, especially as the cost of gasoline soars.

“Railroads can move a ton of freight, on average, 423 miles per gallon of diesel fuel,” said Robert Chaprnka, president of the Michigan Railroads Association.

That is extremely cheap, compared to the price of moving it almost any other way. Although railroads always have been used to move large, heavy goods, they are increasingly moving things that used to be shipped mainly by truck.

“The odds are much greater than they were a few years ago that the clothes on your back were shipped largely by rail,” Mr. Chaprnka observed.

Michigan is served by 26 freight railroad companies, far more than you might expect, but they differ dramatically. They include four major intercontinental carriers — Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern — and a host of regional and short-line railroads, some of which operate only a few miles of track.

Most are profitable. So is there any chance that they might re-enter the passenger market anytime soon?

Frankly, no, for one major reason: “They couldn’t make any money at it,” said Mr. Chaprnka, a former state Senate staffer who has represented railroad interests before the Legislature since 1990.

While that makes him officially a lobbyist, the railroads don’t want very much from government. They wouldn’t mind a little financial help with maintaining the grade crossings where roads and highways intersect rail tracks, which are now their sole responsibility.

Otherwise, they are pretty self-sufficient, down to their own well-funded retirement system. There is something they really want to avoid, however: any attempt to re-regulate them.

The railroads lost money when they were required to provide passenger service, until a deal was brokered in 1980.

The federal government established Amtrak to handle passenger service. Private-sector freight railroads were deregulated and freed to concentrate on moving cargo, not people. The result has been a financial bonanza for carriers and shippers alike.

“When you adjust for inflation,” Mr. Chaprnka said, “the cost of moving cargo is half what it was in 1981. Half!”

Things might change if gasoline prices soar and demand increases for rail travel. Logically, Amtrak might begin by offering more service.

But there’s another problem: People want to travel at as high a speed as possible. For passenger trains, that means at least 79 miles an hour.

Amtrak mostly operates on track owned by the freight railroads. And in some places, track conditions are such that trains can travel safely at no more than 25 to 40 mph. That has been the case with the Norfolk Southern-owned track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo.

Upgrading the track might seem the easy and logical solution, but that is hugely expensive. Three years ago, a study co-authored by an analyst for the Federal Railroad Administration put the cost of doing that at between $26,000 and $60,000 a mile.

That doesn’t mean passenger railroad travel has no future. It is just that things are more complicated than they seem.

These days, the nation’s freight railroads are making money, adding employees (most of whom are well-paid), and doing more business. There’s little sentiment for requiring them to carry passengers. But it might be reasonable to ask them to contribute more to maintaining tracks at a higher standard.

Train travel is far cheaper and more environmentally friendly than travel by gasoline-powered vehicles. The day could yet come, quicker than we expect, when more passenger travel by train may make sense.

Jack Lessenberry, a member of the journalism faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit and The Blade’s ombudsman, writes on issues and people in Michigan.

Contact him at: omblade@aol.com