(The following story by Jeremy Gonsior appeared on The Holland Sentinel website on February 2, 2009.)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — West Michigan train supporters hope an anniversary celebration and a new Web site will continue to increase passenger traffic on Amtrak’s Grand Rapids to Chicago run known as the Pere Marquette.
The latest numbers show 111,575 passengers rode the line in 2008, about a 4 percent increase over 2007.
However, some folks aren’t cheering in the wake of an unscheduled holiday stopover that stranded 268 passengers for 12 hours on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22.
The snowy trip included a more than three-hour stop in Holland Township, when the train’s crew reached its legal work-time limit and the conductor couldn’t find a relief crew.
Westrain Collaborative, a group of lakeshore communities that advocate rail travel in West Michigan, met last week to analyze the Amtrak incident.
A 25th anniversary celebration of the Chicago to Grand Rapids service could help to build ridership even more, leaders concluded. Amtrak helped with a 20th anniversary celebration of the service in 2004, an event that was later modeled in locations across the country.
“We are hopeful,” said Steve Bulthuis, chairman of the collaborative. “That is certainly one way to acknowledge what occurred here and try to make amends.”
Amtrak said the celebration is a possibility.
“As we get closer to that date, we certainly will be working with them,” said Marc Magliari, spokesman for Amtrak in Chicago.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is waiting for more information about the incident from Amtrak.
It sent a letter to the company in late December and received a response Jan. 3 apologizing for the incident. The state then sent a second letter saying Amtrak didn’t address all of its concerns.
“We need to know what went wrong in terms of train service and customer service, including poor communications with passengers,” Janet Foran, spokeswoman for the department, told The Sentinel last month. “Some factors were out of Amtrak’s control, including severe wintry weather. Others were not.”
The state received the second letter from Amtrak late last week.
“Staff is currently reviewing the information,” Foran said Monday, Feb. 2.
Westrain Collaborative said it wants Amtrak to incorporate a protocol in the future that includes better communication with local officials when assistance is needed.
“It’s clear that didn’t occur (on Dec. 22),” Bulthuis said.