(The following story by Ron Fonger appeared at Mlive.com on October 21, 2009.)
FLINT, Mich. — There have been moments when it wasn’t clear whether Amtrak’s Blue Water passenger train would still be rolling through Flint, Port Huron and Chicago 35 years after the service started.
Communities all along the route will celebrate the fact that it is today with special fares, gifts for passengers from each of the nine communities where the train line stops, and high hopes that the route will continue to do well even though its state subsidy has been in question from year to year.
“There have been more and more people” on board, said Barbara Spaulding-Westcott, a train enthusiast from Flint. “I think a lot of people are riding because they realize it’s fun,” can be less expensive than other transportation, and is more is relaxing.
Supporters of the route don’t have immediate financing worries like there have been in recent years when Amtrak and the state haggled over how much of a subsidy the state should provide to keep the Port Huron-to-Chicago route.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the state transportation budget recently, including $5.7 million for two subsidized Amtrak routes in Michigan, said Janet Foran, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Supplemental funds may still need to be found later to pay for a full year of subsidized service, Foran said.
Lt. Gov. John Cherry was expected to board the Blue Water in Flint this morning and ride it when it departs at 7:11 a.m.
Passengers on today’s trip were expected to receive a gift bag, including products from each community the Blue Water stops in, including Coffee Beanery coffee from Genesee County.
Everyone visiting select stations for the ceremonies will have an opportunity to enter a raffle for Amtrak tickets good for future travel, MDOT said.
Amtrak is also offering a fare sale of 35 percent off the regular (full) adult rail price on the Blue Water service through Thursday in honor of the anniversary, but tickets must be purchased by today.
The Blue Water line was been operating since an inaugural partnership between Amtrak and the state of Michigan paved the way for the Sept. 13, 1974, launch of the line, according to MDOT.
The Blue Water service was renamed the Blue Water Limited in 1975, and in 1982, the service was replaced by the International, with service from Chicago to Toronto, as a joint train with VIA Rail Canada, according to the state.
Ridership on the International peaked in 1997 with more than 125,000 passengers and then started a steady decline. It was replaced by the Blue Water route, providing continuous daily service to Durand, East Lansing, Flint, Lapeer and Port Huron since 1974, MDOT said.
There were 132,851 riders on the Blue Water in 2009, down slightly from its record of 138,604 in 2008.