The ''Michigan Executive'' was a commuter train operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

between

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, and Jackson, Michigan. Amtrak took over the service from

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

in 1975 and discontinued it in 1984.

History

As Amtrak's mandate did not cover commuter operations,

continued to operate a weekday commuter service between Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan after Amtrak had assumed control of its intercity operations. By the mid-1970s Penn Central asked to discontinue the service, citing dwindling ridership and the aging

Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily ad ...

s it used. Amtrak and the U.S. state of Michigan agreed to step in, and the ''Michigan Executive'' made its first run on January 20, 1975, running between Detroit and Jackson (to the west of Ann Arbor). In the summer of 1975, the westbound Friday ''Michigan Executive'' operated all the way to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, returning the following Sunday. Under Amtrak, ridership increased 50% and peaked at 96,573 in 1979. Chartered buses carried passengers from the

Detroit station Detroit station, also known as Baltimore Street station, is an intermodal transit station in Detroit, Michigan. It currently serves Amtrak. It also serves as a stop for Greyhound Lines, Detroit Department of Transportation buses, Suburban Mobilit ...

to downtown Detroit. Declining ridership due to the decline of downtown Detroit, a recession, and ticket price hikes led Amtrak to discontinue the westbound ''Michigan Executive'' on June 14, 1982 and eastbound service between Jackson and Detroit was truncated only running from Ann Arbor to Detroit. Returning commuters took the Chicago-Detroit ''

Twilight Limited The ''Twilight Limited'' was a named passenger train in the United States which initially operated between Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan. The New York Central Railroad introduced the train in 1926, and it continued until the formati ...

'' which was modified adding stops to accommodate former westbound ''Executive'' passengers. By 1983, annual ridership had fallen to 26,000. Amtrak completely discontinued the remainder of the ''Michigan Executive'' on January 13, 1984, after Michigan withdrew its support citing low ridership. State transportation officials estimated that the discontinuance would save $200,000/year, and daily ridership had dwindled below 60.

References

External links

1975 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in Michigan Railway services introduced in 1975 Railway services discontinued in 1984

History

See also

References

External links