LANSING – After nearly a year of reviewing a proposal to add a high-speed railway that would travel between Detroit and Lansing, workgroup members announced on Tuesday that they would urge the Legislature to go ahead with the proposal, although not without cautionary notes.

Chair of the Interstate Traveler Taskforce, Rep. Bill Rogers (R-Brighton), said the proposal by the Interstate Traveler Company to build and privately finance the high speed rail is worth looking into and could “single-handedly change Michigan’s future by providing thousands of jobs, additional revenue for state and local governments and a massive expansion of our electrical grid.”

The expansion would be a result of the rail’s collection of solar and use of hydrogen power, which it could sell to the public when there is an excess or store for later use.

While several proposals have been floated, the big attraction to this particular idea was that ITC would fund the estimated $10 million per standard mile cost and then split ridership fees 50/50 with the government.

However, the taskforce recommended to any committee that ends up reviewing the proposal that it locks in a promise for the money, since despite several demands for proof of the money, no such documentation has surfaced.

The taskforce also recommended that:

Lawmakers pass a bond that ensures the state isn’t liable for any costs if the project fails.

The attorney general, Department of Management and Budget and the Department of Transportation review the public/private partnership contract written by ITC to make sure the state is protected.

Officials lock in the state’s authority to monitor fare rates to keep them from soaring beyond affordability.

Lawmakers give consideration to other rail system proposals as well.

While not specifically directed at this project, there is a bill already in the House Transportation Committee that could cover the public/private partnerships in this case, and if it encompasses everything in the contract, Rogers said he would be willing to use the legislation to speed up the rail system.

HB 4961 , which was introduced mainly to help construction projects, is something legislators and the attorney general could look at as possible legislation already in the works to help them move the rail project along.

Rep. Kevin Green (R-Wyoming), who wasn’t officially on the taskforce, but participated as a supporter of the project, said he doesn’t see any negative to the ITC proposal, which he said could be the “silver bullet” Michigan’s economy needs and the legacy Governor Jennifer Granholm should want to leave as she departs from office.

“This is not only good policy; it’s good politically,” Green said at a press conference announcing the taskforce findings. It fits right in with (the governor’s) message of green jobs and green technology.”

But Ron DeCook, MDOT director of governmental affairs, cast doubt on the project in a statement.

“Significant information is lacking, such as financing, how the proposed project would affect the federal (environmental law) process, how the project would affect state-owned right of way,” he said. “In addition, the technology needs to be demonstrated. Data must be provided to see if the project is feasible. There are lots of unknowns. The department, as recently as this past November, recommended to Interstate Traveler that they meet with the U.S. (Department of Transportation) to flesh out more of the details as a first step.”

As to whether other lawmakers besides those on the small bipartisan taskforce will agree that the railway is a good idea, especially in an election year, he said, Green said they have “no choice but to be bold” since the railway is exactly the solution to using the infrastructure left behind by a tattered auto and steel industry and creating innovative and well-paying jobs instead of dealing with continued unemployment.

One concern, raised by SEMCOG director of transportation Carmine Palumbo, is safety.

He said that while the idea of being the first state to have a railway of this kind is exciting, it could also be dangerous since it runs in excess of 200 miles an hour and hasn’t been tried out yet.

“It’s a great idea, if it works,” he said, adding that since the company says it has money already lined up, it should use it to make a quarter mile testing prototype to work out any operational issues before making the investment to go the entire approximate 100 miles from Detroit to Lansing.

According to the workforce report, the plan is to test the rail system with prototypes before public use. It says: “The rigorous testing of the combined scale demonstration will help in finding any integration problems before construction and will allow for the building of the final project with minimal development delays.”

The report says that the finished project should allow people to adapt to “g-forces and a reduced sense of lateral movement” so well that the system should “allow a full champagne flute to stand on a table virtually undisturbed during all normal operations.”

To that, Palumbo said: “We’ll be on board with it as soon as they show us that it can do what they say it’s going to do and do it safely.”

As for Rogers, he said he was convinced by experts from more than 50 companies and academic institutions, including from NASA, that the rail is safe, won’t jump a line, and doesn’t use enough hydrogen to pose a danger.

The leader of the project at ITC, Justin Sutton, could not be reached prior to publication.m

In the meantime, SEMCOG, working with the Department of Transportation, is still working to start commuter rail service from Ann Arbor to Detroit using conventional trains with limited schedules by the end of the year.

They haven’t figured out the cost yet for ridership, but like with any publicly funded transportation project, Palumbo said he doesn’t expect to cover the costs of the rail system with fees. Instead, he said he will seek federal, state and local money, along with some private funding.

He said his project would connect several of the state’s largest cities and at least 10 major universities, three of top five employment centers, 103 retail centers, over 135 thousand students living and attending school in the area, metro airport, as well as numerous tourist attractions.

While the MagLev rail system is shooting for about 3 percent in ridership, Palumbo said SEMCOG is hoping for at least 1,000 to 1,500 riders per day, who will get from Detroit to Ann Arbor in about 55 minutes, the same time it takes to drive, depending on traffic.

As for ITC, its ultimate goal is to use its rail system to carry not just passengers, but cargo. It will also display advertising, and use the trains for a host of other moneymaking ventures, said Mr. Rogers.

If the passenger fleet goes well, the plan could be to expand the system along every major freeway such as to Grand Rapids from Lansing, Green said.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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