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If you’re the kind of person who like taking things in your own hands, try Amtrak’s official interactive Travel Planning map, and zoom in to Michigan.
According to Amtrak’s latest fact sheet, over 740,000 Amtrak riders stopped at a station in Michigan during 2023. Ten years previous in 2013, was Michigan Amtrak’s biggest year yet, with a total ridership of over 795,000 trainspotters.
Families take a train together from out-of-state to Michigan. Friends enjoy finding their comfy seats fast and especially the miles of beautiful scenery on a Michigan-bound passenger train. All Aboard!
The Pere Marquette, Blue Water, and Wolverine are Amtrak’s three passenger train routes with destinations in Michigan.
Of the 22 Michigan cities reachable by train, the top 5 busiest train stations are…:
…and the 5 least busy Michigan passenger train stations are:
Yes, all three Amtrak routes enter Michigan by way of Chicago. The Pierre Marquette, Blue Water, and Wolverine lines each connect Chicago to Michigan.
After rounding the southern coast of Lake Michigan eastbound, both the Blue Water and Wolverine lines continue eastbound toward Port Huron and Detroit, respectively. The Pierre Marquette breaks northbound toward Grand Rapids.
It’s no wonder, since Michigan’s train system starts in Chicago, Michigan’s southwest cities attract many Chicago railway enthusiast tourists! Holland is a fresh blossoming destination during its yearly Tulip Time festival, and Grand Rapids offers accessible urban rental kayaking. People from Chicago are welcome to visit Michigan by train on a daily schedule all year.
No, westbound passenger trains head straight to Chicago, and skip Michigan altogether. So, you can’t get to Michigan by westbound train, but you can catch a connecting bus, typically in Toledo or Chicago.
Westbound trains from Washington D.C. and Philadelphia continue westbound through Pittsburgh and Cleveland until they reach Chicago. That is to say, they skip Michigan altogether, a reasonable feature given our obstructive Great Lakes.
If you need to get to Michigan by westbound train, then Toledo is your key stop. You get off the train there, and take a connecting bus to Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, or other common Michigan destinations by East Coasters and New Englanders, who are welcome to visit here.
No, you can’t get to Michigan by northbound train. Not without a connecting train or bus, anyway…
Northbound lines from Texas and Louisiana end in Chicago.
The Northbound line from Florida becomes a westbound train to Chicago terminus once Washington D.C. is reached.
Taking a train from the south would require you to enter Michigan eastbound from Chicago, or take a connecting bus in Toledo after getting off a westbound train.
No, there’s no passenger train you can ride continuously from Canada into Michigan.
Canada’s VIA Rail System reaches the border between Canada and Michigan, with Sarnia and Windsor on the Canada-side and Port Huron and Detroit on the United States-side.
If you’re located way up north in Ontario, then the closest passenger train stations to Michigan are in Sudbury and White River, both are still a 3.5 hour drive away from Canada’s border with Sault Saint Marie.
Midwest ferroequinologists predict Detroit’s Amtrak Services will connect continuously with Windsor’s VIA Rail System some years from now.
In 2025, no direct train goes from Detroit to Toronto or onto Montreal. However, according to the Detroit Free Press, the Wolverine line is planned to once again connect Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto by way of U.S. Amtrak and Canadian VIA passenger train partnership. A new train station in Windsor eyes distance across the Detroit River will be added to the Wolverine line.
This friendly passenger train from Windsor straight into Michigan will be a renaissance of trains that were running before. According to history, the train line running between Chicago and Toronto through Michigan by border crossing near Port Huron carried its last 80,000 passengers in 2003 before its closing. Port Huron’s St. Claire Tunnel hasn’t allowed people to enter Michigan from Canada from several years since its closure.
No, the northernmost major passenger train hubs are Grand Rapids and East Lansing. Stations at Durand, Flint, and Lapeer are also as north as it gets. Railfans wishing to reach places like Traverse City for their cherries or Mackinac Island for their fudge, or Sault Ste Marie for their locks must take a bus.
Amtrak offers Thruway Bus Service Traverse City, Mackinac Island Bridge, and Sault Saint Marie. Kalamazoo is the most well known station to offer a Thruway Bus operated by Indian Trails which goes to Mackinac City and St. Ignace. But there are other cities and other buses to get you up north.
The North-South Rail Project might open up a passenger train through the Mitten. If the plan gets approved and the railroad gets built, it would connect Southeast Michigan cities with the further reaches of Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Clare in Central Michigan and further north to Traverse City and Petoskey in Northwest Michigan. Such a cross-section of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan would allow people to get to Michigan’s upper parts by passenger train.
The comfy and fun passenger rail cars in Michigan are operated by Amtrak, but according to Wikipedia, the network of tracks below the car are actually owned by CSX, Norfolk Southern, the Canadian National Railway, Conrail and Amtrak.
Michigan’s MDOT works together with Amtrak and railroad tracks owners to oversee Michigan’s passenger rail system.
