(The following article by David Jesse was posted on the Port Huron Times Herald website on November 6.)
PORT HURON, Mich. — Kay Olsen could be a living advertisement for Amtrak.
On Friday morning, she parked her pickup truck in the small parking lot at the Port Huron station, threw a few last-minute items into her small suitcase, boarded the westbound International and sat comfortably as the train rolled across Michigan and into Illinois.
“I’m going to Chicago for a convention,” said Olsen of Wales Township. “I was worried about where to park my vehicle in Chicago. Now there’s no worry where to park.”
Amtrak officials would like to see more people such as Olsen use the International, which runs from Chicago to Toronto.
The line had the biggest decline in ridership of the 22 lines in the rail company’s western region in fiscal year 2003, which ended Sept. 30. It was the second largest decline in the nation.
Nationwide, ridership increased 2.7% from 23.5 million riders to 24 million riders.
The decline is leading Amtrak and state officials to consider eliminating the international part of the line, making Port Huron the starting and stopping point.
Not many riders
In fiscal year 2003, 80,890 people rode the International , Amtrak numbers show. That’s down 11.8% from the 91,714 that rode in 2002. The numbers were even higher in 2001, when 105,114 stepped aboard.
“The International numbers disappoint us,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
There are two main reasons why the number of riders is down, he said — the economy and repairs to the track.
Starting in May, Amtrak had to bus people from Port Huron to East Lansing as work was done on the tracks by Canadian National, which owns the tracks.
“It was not restored until mid-September,” Magliari said.
He also blames the downturn in the economy, saying people stayed home more.
State Rep. Lauren Hager, R-Port Huron Township, said there’s another reason — not enough people know about the line.
“We’ve never had good marketing on the International,” he said.
Olsen agrees.
“Not many people know about it,” she said. “I’ve told several people about it, and they’ve said they’ll have to check it out. We’re just so used to jumping in the car and going.”
The westbound train pulls out of Port Huron at 12:20 p.m. The eastbound train leaves at 5:35 p.m.
A solution?
Amtrak and state officials hope a switch in where the train goes might help boost numbers.
At a meeting last week, Michigan Department of Transportation officials and Amtrak officials discussed eliminating the part of the route from Port Huron to Toronto.
Jim Guest of London, Ontario, wouldn’t like that.
He rides occasionally to meet up with friends in Chicago.
“It’s much easier than driving all that way and cheaper than having to pay for the gas and parking,” he said. “I hope they don’t cancel it.”
Hager said it might be a good idea.
“It could run on the old Bluewater schedule and leave Port Huron early in the morning, meaning people could be in Chicago relatively early in the day,” said Hager, who sponsored the meeting along with state Sen. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac. “Another great advantage could be that students could leave Port Huron and be in East Lansing in time for morning classes.”
Amtrak said trains are delayed coming through customs into the United States, and that delays the rest of the schedule, making the train’s arrival unreliable.
“We want to make the service as available as possible,” Magliari said.
A decision on the line could come as soon as the end of this month, Hager said.
State officials also are working with Amtrak to get the ticket agent restored to the Port Huron station.
The position was eliminated in December. Customers can buy their tickets with cash from the conductor, on the Internet or by mail.