DETROIT — Michigan Central Station, the long-abandoned rail facility revived last year by Ford Motor Co. as the centerpiece of an innovation district, could see trains again under an agreement announced today (Oct. 15, 2025).
The Michigan Department of Transportation, the city of Detroit, and Michigan Central, the company overseeing the innovation district, have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to begin developing a transportation hub for rail and bus transit on the Michigan Central campus near the historic station dating to 1913. That agreement commits $40 million for initial research and engineering for the project.
“Today’s MOU lays the foundation for a new multimodal transportation hub that will grow our regional economy, make downtown Detroit more vibrant, and connect residents and visitors to our communities,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a press release. Said Michigan Central CEO Josh Sirefman, “As Detroit’s innovation ecosystem grows at an unprecedented rate, our transit infrastructure must evolve alongside it, by linking entrepreneurs and companies to emerging innovation zones and the opportunities they unlock.”
The land designated for the multimodal hub is just west of the Michigan Central building, according to a map of the site, and is owned by Ford.
Amtrak indicated its support for the plan in a emailed statement, saying, “The development of an intermodal station on the Michigan Central campus aligns with long-term Amtrak goals to expand service with our partners at the Michigan Department of Transportation, including our work with VIA Rail and Transport Canada to restore an international connection between Chicago and Toronto through Detroit and Windsor.”
An Amtrak presentation calls for extending one or two daily Wolverine trains, which currently run between Chicago and Pontiac, Mich., from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, providing a connection to VIA Rail Canada trains via CPKC’s existing Windsor tunnel. It also calls for a new joint border screening facility in Windsor and says it would expand service “with minimal capital investment.” The presentation says partners in the project include Michigan DOT, VIA, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Conrail, Ford Land, and short line Essex Terminal Railway, which would have to make significant upgrades to its right-of-way to link the current Amtrak and VIA routes [see “Amtrak-VIA proposal …,” Trains.com, Nov. 13, 2023].
Amtrak trains could not travel to Windsor from the current Detroit station in the city’s New Center neighborhood without a backup move that would potentially add 20 to 30 minutes to their trip [see “Are trains in Michigan Central’s future?” Trains.com, June 8, 2024].
Crain’s Detroit Business reports in a paywalled article that the memorandum calls for engineering and environmental work to be completed by Oct. 1, 2026. An agreement covering actual development would then be signed, with a target of Oct. 31, 2028, for completion of design and construction, and Dec. 31, 2028, to open the new facility.
The flow of rail passenger traffic from the Detroit area to Toronto has been enormous, historically. (By people driving over the border to CNR Windsor Walkerville.) Wish Detroit, my favorite city, well, but a lot has to happen. More questions than answers at this point.
(1) With all respect to fast-improving Corktown and Mexicantown, site of Michigan Central, Detroit’s current Amtrak station at New Center is also in a good location, and ideal for trains continuing on to populous (and prosperous) northern suburbs ending at Pontiac.
(2) Unless a train splits it can’t go to both Pontiac and to Toronto. And BTW a lot of the traffic to Toronto has been from the north suburbs because that’s where the people live in large numbers. So all three sides of the triangle, Chicago-Pontiac, Chicago-Toronto, and Pontiac-Toronto would hopefully have multiple daily service.
(3) For all the railfan nostalgia for the Michigan Central Station (to my mind, an overrated building but I’m in the minority) the proposal is to build nearby rather than reopening Michigan Central for trains.
(4) To say that Essex Terminal would need work is an understatement. And would require a backup movement into or out of Windsor Walkerville. On the other hand, CPCK from the tunnel then connecting to CNR at Chatham is a straight shot. There is, or was, a very nice CPR/NYC station on the south side of Windsor, closed many decades ago.
Now on a related topic, more about cars than railroads. I’m the only person who asked, at the time, WHAT THE H*E*L*L was FoMoCo thinking when they dumped all the megacash into a crummy old railroad office tower from 1910? At a time when FoMoCo was tearing down much newer and much more purpose-built tech space in Dearborn and Allen Park. But here’s the more recent kicker that absolutely clinches my argument. Now, FoMoCo has announced it will tear down the “Glass House” HQ on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. I just don’t get it. Ford says the Dearborn Glass House from 1956 is obsolete and too far from the tech center (a mile). But a decrepit, never prime office tower built by a railroad in 1910 is not obsolete? And instead of a mile from the tech center, it’s, I don’t know I’d have to look up a map, but maybe six or seven miles.