(The following story by Barrett Newkirk appeared on The Enquirer website on September 14, 2009.)
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Possible cuts to state funding for Amtrak could mean fewer passenger train stops in Battle Creek.
Reductions to state money going to Amtrak lines such as the Blue Water service, which runs from Port Huron to Chicago and stops twice daily downtown, are part of budgets being proposed by lawmakers in Lansing.
Budgets offered by the Michigan House and Gov. Jennifer Granholm set aside $5.7 million for Amtrak support. The Senate budget sets funding at $3.7 million. This year, Amtrak received a state contract worth $7.3 million.
The Pere Marquette service between Grand Rapids and Chicago also gets state support. The Wolverine line, which stops six times daily in Battle Creek between Pontiac and Chicago, receives no state support.
John Langdon of the Michigan Association of Rail Passengers said the state should be working to make train travel more convenient by offering more service at better times.
“Passenger service in Michigan isn’t like commuter service in Chicago, he said.”The majority of passengers aren’t frequent users of the service.”
Langdon suggested that to support train service, the state should increase its gasoline tax.
MDOT spokeswoman Janet Foran said without a final budget figure, it was too early to predict likely service changes.
“Right now the amounts that have been proposed by the House and the Senate are so different, we don’t know what could potentially happen,” she said.
While cutting service on weekends is one possibility, she said, MDOT could also decide to fully operate the Blue Water and Pere Marquette for however long funding would allow.