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Pere Marquette (Amtrak train)

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The Pere Marquette is a passenger train operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services on the 176-mile (283 km) route between Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. It is funded in part by the Michigan Department of Transportation and is train 370 eastbound and train 371 westbound.[4] The westbound train leaves Grand Rapids during the morning rush, and the eastbound train leaves Chicago after the afternoon rush, enabling same-day business travel between the two cities.

Pere Marquette
The Pere Marquette at Grand Rapids, July 2020
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
LocaleMidwest United States
PredecessorPere Marquette
First serviceAugust 4, 1984
Current operator(s)Amtrak
Annual ridership85,845 (FY23) Decrease -0.4%[a][1]
Route
TerminiChicago, Illinois
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stops4
Distance travelled176 miles (283 km)
Average journey time4 hours[2]
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)370, 371
On-board services
Class(es)Coach Class
Business Class
Disabled accessTrain lower level, all stations
Catering facilitiesCafé (snack coach)
Baggage facilitiesOverhead racks
Technical
Rolling stockGE Genesis
Superliner
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speedUp to 79 mph (127 km/h) (Current)
Up to 110 mph (180 km/h) (Planned)
Track owner(s)CSX, NS, Amtrak[3]
Route map
Legend
Empire Builder, Borealis, &
Hiawatha
0 mi
0 km
 Chicago Metra
California Zephyr, Illinois
Zephyr, & Southwest Chief
Lincoln Service & Texas Eagle
Cardinal
City of New Orleans,
Illini & Saluki
IL
IN
16 mi
26 km
 Hammond–Whiting
Floridian &
Lake Shore Limited
South Shore Line
to South Bend Airport
IN
MI
62 mi
100 km
 New Buffalo
Blue Water to Port Huron
& Wolverine to Pontiac
New Buffalo Connection
(planned)
89 mi
143 km
 St. Joseph
116 mi
187 km
 Bangor
151 mi
243 km
 Holland
176 mi
283 km
 Grand Rapids
This diagram:

The train is named for a named train of the defunct Pere Marquette Railway[5] and in turn for Pere Marquette, Michigan, an early name for Ludington.[6] The town was named for Father Jacques Marquette, a French explorer of the Great Lakes region.[6]

History

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The original Pere Marquette was a named train of the Pere Marquette Railway, which ran between Detroit and Grand Rapids six times a day. It was extended to Chicago in 1947, when the Pere Marquette Railway was absorbed into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Service ended on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over intercity rail service in the country.

 
The Pere Marquette in southwestern Michigan in 2011

Amtrak revived the name for a new Grand Rapids–Chicago service on August 5, 1984,[7] with financial support from the state of Michigan.[8] Initially it served Chicago, Hammond–Whiting, New Buffalo, St. Joseph, Bangor, Holland and Grand Rapids. Service at Hammond–Whiting ended April 29, 2001 (although the Wolverine still stops there). Service at New Buffalo ended October 26, 2009, when a new station opened on a different alignment.[9]: 210 [10] The 1984-opened station in Grand Rapids was replaced with Vernon J. Ehlers Station on a new spur line in 2014.[11]

On November 30, 2007, the southbound Pere Marquette collided with a Norfolk Southern freight train in Chicago, injuring 71 people. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the collision was the failure of the Amtrak engineer to interpret the signal at Englewood interlocking correctly and Amtrak's failure to ensure that the engineer had the competence to interpret signals correctly across the different territories over which he operated. The NTSB released its findings on the crash on March 31, 2009.[12]

In March 2020, the Pere Marquette was suspended indefinitely as part of a round of service reduction in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[13] The train returned on June 29 with the eastbound run to Grand Rapids, with full service in both directions resuming on June 30.[14] In the interim, Grand Rapids' only connection to the national system was an Amtrak Thruway that connected with the Wolverine at Kalamazoo.

Around 2021, MDOT initiated the design and engineering needed to connect the Amtrak Michigan Line to the CSX tracks north of New Buffalo station. This would allow the Pere Marquette to serve New Buffalo, providing a connection to Blue Water and Wolverine trains. It would also allow for 110 mph (180 km/h) service on the Pere Marquette between New Buffalo, Michigan and Porter, Indiana.[15][16][17]

Operations

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Route

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The Pere Marquette operates over Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation trackage:

Equipment

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A typical Pere Marquette consists of:[19]

Station stops

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State Town/City Station Connections
IL Chicago Chicago Union Station   Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Floridian, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle
  Amtrak (intercity): Blue Water, Borealis, Hiawatha, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Service, Wolverine
  Metra: ■ BNSF, ■ Milwaukee District North, ■ Milwaukee District West, ■ North Central Service, ■ Heritage Corridor, ■ SouthWest Service
  Chicago "L": Blue (at Clinton), Brown Orange Pink Purple (at Quincy)
  CTA Bus, Pace Bus
  Amtrak Thruway to Madison, Rockford (operated by Van Galder), Louisville (operated by Greyhound Lines)
MI St. Joseph St. Joseph–Benton Harbor   TCATA
Bangor Bangor   Van Buren Public Transit
Holland Padnos Transportation Center   Macatawa Area Express
Grand Rapids Grand Rapids   The Rapid
  Silver Line
  Amtrak Thruway

References

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  1. ^ "Amtrak Fiscal Year 2023 Ridership" (PDF). Amtrak. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  2. ^ "Amtrak Timetable Results". www.amtrak.com. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  3. ^ Kolker, Ken (December 23, 2008). "State Asks Amtrak To Explain Delays: Michigan Trains Late Nearly 75% of the Time". The Grand Rapids Press.
  4. ^ "Michigan Services Schedule" (PDF). Amtrak. January 22, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. ^ "Pere Marquette". Grand Valley Metropolitan Council. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "Who or What Are All Those 'Pere Marquettes'?". Pere Marquette Historical Society. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
  7. ^ "Michigan's Railroad History 1825 - 2014" (PDF). Michigan Department of Transportation. October 13, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  8. ^ "Pere Marquette Commemorative Button". Amtrak History & Archives. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  9. ^ Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.
  10. ^ Creager, Ellen (October 26, 2009). "Detroit–Chicago Amtrak train will stop in New Buffalo". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  11. ^ "Grand Rapids' new Amtrak station grand opening date set, retiring Sen. Carl Levin to attend". mlive.com. October 22, 2014.
  12. ^ "Accident Report Detail: RAR0901". National Transportation Safety Board. March 31, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  13. ^ "Service Adjustments Due to Coronavirus" (Press release). Amtrak. March 24, 2020. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  14. ^ "Grand Rapids-Chicago Amtrak Pere Marquette trains return next week" (Press release). Amtrak. June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  15. ^ "St. Joe Backs Resolution for Amtrak Passenger Rail Connection at New Buffalo". Moody on the Market. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  16. ^ LinkedUpRadio, Envisionwise Website Service /. "Amtrak Connection Proposed Outside New Buffalo". Hometown News Now. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "MDOT STATE LONG-RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN" (PDF). Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  18. ^ a b "Pere Marquette Route Guide" (PDF). National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  19. ^ "Pere Marquette". TrainWeb. Retrieved October 22, 2010.

Notes

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  1. ^ Amtrak's Fiscal Year (FY) runs from October 1 of the prior year to September 30 of the named year.

Further reading

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  • Dixon, Thomas W. Jr. (2004). Chesapeake & Ohio's Pere Marquettes: America's First Postwar Streamliners 1946–1971. Lynchburg, VA: TLC Publishing. ISBN 1-883089-88-3. OCLC 56444812.
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  Media related to Pere Marquette at Wikimedia Commons

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