State could be forced to pay new Detroit officials' salaries
Under the consent agreement with the state, the city of Detroit will have to appoint new officials to lead the city out of its financial crisis. Who will pay the salaries for these new officials is a new bone of contention according to Jonathan Oosting at MLive:
The [consent] agreement... requires the formation of a nine-member Financial Advisory Board to oversee city budgets and hiring of a Program Management Director to oversee implementation of key initiatives.
The deal calls for the city and state to split the salaries of advisory board members, who each will make $25,000 a year, while the city is required to cover the full salary of the PMD, expected to earn triple figures.
Some council members feel the Headlee Act prevents the state from mandating new services without compensating the city for those services.
Oosting reports Detroit City Council is expected to meet in a closed door session with the city's law department this afternoon.
U.S. Attorney General says violence in Detroit is "unacceptable"
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told thousands of people gathered at an NAACP fundraising dinner that violence in Detroit is "unacceptable."
He told the crowd last night in Detroit that his administration is directing "unprecedented" resources nationally in order to reduce young people's exposure to crime.
Holder said an average of two young black men get killed each week in Detroit. He called the statistic "shocking."
Higher train speeds between Detroit and Chicago
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says Michigan, Illinois and Indiana are each contributing $200,000 for a study looking into the creation of a high-speed rail corridor between Chicago and Detroit.
LaHood says the study will seek ways to cut Amtrak passenger train times between the cities and to more efficiently move goods.
The Department of Transportation says the study will build on the progress that Michigan has made in achieving 110 mile per hour service between Kalamazoo and Porter, Indiana.
DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Officials say the driver of a car who was killed in a collision with an Amtrak train near Lansing drove around lowered gates at a road crossing.
The Eaton County Sheriff's Office continued to investigate the accident Friday.
The driver of the car who was killed was identified as Hermes Fernandez-Lopez. The 39-year-old was from Lansing.
No one on the train was reported injured in the Thursday night accident.
The train was travelling from Chicago to Port Huron with about 145 passengers when it struck the vehicle shortly after 9:10 p.m., authorities said. Train passengers left the scene on buses.
Maximum train speeds on Amtrak's Wolverine and Blue Water lines can increase to 110 m.p.h. on an 80 mile stretch of track between Kalamazoo and Porter, Indiana.
Amtrak and MDOT officials say the higher speed is the fastest allowed outside the Northeast Corridor.
Amtrak's Acela Express train, which travels between Boston and Washington D.C., can reach speeds up to 150 m.p.h.
Approval was given after successful testing of a "positive train control safety system" installed on the tracks.
Update 3:15 p.m. - Workers hope to reopen rail line tomorrow
10 people were injured today when an Amtrak train collided with a semi-truck between Ann Arbor and Jackson. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
The accident derailed the train’s engine and two passenger cars. The collision also heavily damaged the tracks and the crossing.
But a company spokesman says they hope to reopen the line by tomorrow morning.
David Pidgeon is a spokesman for Norfolk-Southern, which owns and operates the railroad that runs across southern Michigan.
“Six passenger trains a day use that particular line…and another four to five trains of freight (a day) also use that line," says Pidgeon, "So we need to get that line open…as safely and efficiently as possible.”
While the section of track is being repaired, passengers are making part of their trip by bus.
2:17 p.m. - 10 injured
MLive.com reports that "a total of 10 people were injured" in this morning's Amtrak derailment in Leoni Township.
A westbound Amtrak train collided with a truck this morning between Jackson and Ann Arbor.
There were no life-threatening injuries. The collision left the train’s engine on its side and knocked two passenger cars off the tracks.
Marc Magliari is an Amtrak spokesman. He says Amtrak will bus passengers around the crash site while repairs are under way.
“Passengers who are ticketed …let’s say eastbound passed Jackson…would be taken by chartered motorcoach…to the Ann Arbor station where they’ll meet another train and continue on," says Magliari.
It’s unclear how long it will take to remove the derailed train and repair the damage done to the rails.
About a half million passengers rode on Amtrak’s Wolverine line last year.
Here's video from the Jackson Citizen Patriot speaking with Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester:
I have been traveling by air for most of my adult life, and for a few years, flew somewhere at least once a week.
Yet while I took trains in Europe and Japan, it never occurred to me to do so from Detroit. Amtrak, people said, took forever and was a fairly nasty experience; a shabby relic of transportation’s past.
However, air travel has become less and less fun, from the increasingly cramped seats and loss of anything resembling service, and more and more intrusive security procedures.
The 135 miles of rail line from Dearborn to Kalamazoo will be owned by the state of Michigan. The state is purchasing the line from Norfolk Southern Railway with the help of federal stimulus money. Once completed, the upgraded line will increase speeds.
Most of the upgrades are happening along the Detroit to Chicago route. That's because this line was designated as a high speed rail corridor by the federal government back in 1992.
With that designation comes federal grant dollars.
And recently, it has meant hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars.
The Wolverine train pulls into the Ann Arbor station. More than 500,000 passengers rode the 'Wolverine' line between Pontiac/Detroit and Chicago, an increase of nearly percent from the same period a year ago. Wolverine is the most popular in Michigan.
Amtrak trains in Michigan had a record number of riders and revenue for the fiscal year that ended last month. Michigan Department of Transportation spokeswoman Janet Foran says Amtrak riders have increased steadily since 2008 when gas prices spiked over $4 per gallon.
Nearly 800,000 people rode one of three passenger train lines in the state bringing in close to $28 million in ticket revenue “It goes to show that people like to have transportation choices,” Foran said.
The record numbers come despite major slow-downs over the summer on the most popular line from Detroit to Chicago.
The biggest ridership increase was on the line that runs from Port Huron through East Lansing to Chicago.
Foran says the summer months and the upcoming holiday season are the busiest times for train riders.
Jackson will be the place to be this weekend for Amtrak aficionados.
The national passenger rail service is marking its 40th anniversary this year. This weekend, Amtrak is bringing a rolling museum of its four decade history to Jackson’s rail road station.
Christina Leeds is an Amtrak spokeswoman. She says passionate lovers of all things Amtrak have been flocking to the rolling exhibit’s previous stops around the country.
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