WALLY Commuter Rail (Great Lakes Central Railroad)

Looks like it'll be quite awhile longer before service starts (with fair use quote):

MDOT’s Office of Rail spent $9.5 million on train cars sitting idle at a rail yard in Owosso that the agency “neither owns nor expects to use until at least 2017” because upgrades in tracks between Howell and Ann Arbor as well as Detroit to Ann Arbor remain years away, according to the Auditor General’s report.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l ... /23352411/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan...

What about it? Are you wishing they had spent more money, like Wisconsin on the Talgos or New York on the trainset-that-must-not-be-named?

Um... the opposite? Not wishing, just saying. Michigan...

Did some research, and discovered WALLY had morphed a bit to Ann Arbor - Howell commuter rail (no Detroit), run by Great Lakes Central Railroad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALLY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah, it's wikipedia, but it was also covered by the web-site, which may well be outdated: http://www.glcrailroad.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great Lakes Central Railroad will be participating in a commuter rail service from Howell to Ann Arbor, offering the following benefits:

Alleviate road traffic and parking congestion
Mitigate automobile fuel and maintenance costs
Minimize the daily personal stress of traffic grid lock
Allocate more free land space resulting from less parking requirements
Protect the environment by reducing air pollution

On the subject of commuter cars, don't know what ever happened with this: myfm1065.com

MDOT, GLCRR Close to Deal on Unused Passenger Rail Cars

LANSING, MI (WHTC) - The problem of 23 “rehabilitated” commuter railroad cars, owned by Great Lakes Central Railroad and leased to the Michigan Department of Transportation, that are sitting idle in an Owosso train yard may soon be solved. The two entities are close to an agreement that would lift the lease for up to five years, giving the railroad the opportunity to loan them out to other agencies during that span, but resuming the lease when M-DOT completes expected southeast Michigan rail expansion in 2019.

And now, WALLY may be superseded by service all the way to Traverse City: Record-Eagle.com

And I'm going to cross-post to GLCRR forum.

Passenger rail study arriving soon
Millions needed up front, but idea hasn't jumped the tracks
...
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is overseeing the study, dubbed A2TC in the hopes that passengers could someday leave Ann Arbor by rail and arrive in Traverse City or Petoskey. Bay Area Transportation Authority also is taking part.

Jim Bruckbauer, The Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities' deputy director, said the study comes after Michigan Department of Transportation representatives found widespread demand for such a service. They heard it while gathering input for a statewide rail plain in 2011.
...
The Michigan Department of Transportation owns the tracks from Owosso to Traverse City and Petoskey, department spokesman Michael Frezell said. Great Lakes Central Railroad runs freight trains on the line and pays for its upkeep.

That rail could provide a link to Michigan's three other passenger rail lines — Amtrak trains shuttle passengers from Chicago to Plymouth through Detroit, Port Huron and Grand Rapids.
...
But the tracks need work — Great Lakes Central Railroad figures state much of the line has speed limits of 59 mph for passenger trains. A quarter of the track is even slower, at 30 mph, and Frezell said passenger trains are barred from a portion of the track.

Bruckbauer said that track is in Traverse City, and passenger trains could run to town once repairs are made.

Metcalf said cost estimates for track work run into the hundreds of millions of dollars — he's still finalizing the numbers. It's a large up-front investment, but economical compared to other rail projects or to linking Traverse City to the nearest interstate highway.
...

Ann Arbor-Traverse would be a fun tourist ride for the first 30 miles, but Lordy would it be a slog after that

Can’t Michigan do something more useful, like Toledo-AA-Saginaw?