Roll-on bicycle service for Michigan trains

MDOT is soliciting comments on the State Rail Plan.

Here’s a comment made by MTGA:

We would like to see roll-on bicycle service for all Michigan passenger rail lines. We need to make it much more convenient for rail passengers to bring their bicycles on the train without having to disassemble and box them. Roll-on service would complement the non-motorized transportation efforts underway in the city of Detroit. It would also complement Detroit’s light rail plans, as those trains are expected to have roll-on bicycle service from the start.

Currently, in order to bring your bike on a Michigan AMTRAK train, you must disassemble it and put it in a box. This is obviously not convenient.

Imagine catching a train in the New Center Area and heading to cycling cities like Chicago!

We’ve been told the reason the Michigan trains don’t have roll-on service is because the trains don’t have baggage cars. Apparently there are some baggage cars available but they would require some refurbishment before they could be used.

That said, it seems that other rail lines have installed bike racks in their coaches. That may require removing some seating, which certainly would generate some push back.

Either way, we encourage all cyclists to submit comments to MDOT about making our state train service more bike friendly.

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2 Responses to “Roll-on bicycle service for Michigan trains”

  1. Streetsblog.net » One More Legal Hurdle for Texas Cyclists Says:

    […] where the city has moved to require a permit for groups of 50 or more using county roadways; M-Bike advocates for roll-on bike service on the state’s trains; and Broken Sidewalk looks at a St. […]

  2. David Pertuz Says:

    Thank for writing about this, Todd. I’ll mention this locally so that people in Chicago’s cycling communities can comment. I know there are people here who would love to be able to travel to Detroit on the train with their bicycles.

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