Graphic from Facebook

HOUGHTON – At its regular March meeting, the Houghton County Board of Commissioners voted to table a request to review a resolution proposing to bring Amtrak rail service to the Upper Peninsula. The review was proposed by Cheboygan County, Mich. resident Louis Vallance, who appeared by Zoom.

Vallance has been lobbying various counties and municipalities across the state for more than a year now.

Last year, several communities, including Menominee County, Chippewa County and the city of Marquette, passed resolutions in support of expanding a passenger rail route, connecting northern Michigan communities to Chicago.

On July 15, 2025, the Marinnette-based Record Eagle reported Menominee County commissioners voiced their support of a resolution to bring Amtrak passenger rail service to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during the July 8 county board meeting.

However, on July 24, the Daily Press, in Escanaba, reported a rumored expansion of Amtrak service to the Upper Peninsula appears to be just that — a rumor.

In Aug., the Daily Press said the Delta County Board of Commissioners bucked a recent trend of counties passing resolutions for expanded Amtrack service into the Upper Peninsula, citing statements purportedly made by the railroad indicating it would never happen.

The Daily Press reported the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation said the Amtrak proposal is not going to happen. Wisc. DOT, the article says, was very firm in its statement.

Superior Region Communications Representative Dan Weingarten, of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s office of communications, Echoed the same statement, telling the Daily Press after a similar resolution of support was passed by the Menominee County Board of Commissioners of July 8.

According to Weingarten, the process for establishing a passenger rail service would involve extensive studies of potential routes and ridership. Amtrak declined to comment on any rumors of expansion, noting that the determination of an operator would come at a much later stage.

Last week, Weingarten restated that position. “I have not heard anything on that front,” he said. “MDOT’s focus now is on our existing services and routes, which have all been approved by the Federal Rail Administration.” MDOT does not have any plans to expand passenger rail service to the U.P., he said.

The process necessary to establish passenger rail service would involve extensive studied of potential routes, as well as studies of the potential costs to establish that route, as well as estimates on ridership, said Weingarten.

“I know you need multiple trips per day to make passenger rail feasible,” he said. “You’re talking about the need for hundreds, potentially thousands, of passengers per day.”

The route Vallance has been proposing is along what was referred to as the Peninsula 400, operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway between Ishpeming and Chicago. The line was abandoned in 1969. Weingarten suggested that revisiting that route 57 years later would also involve costs in studies to determine accessibility and existing privately owned rights of way.

Though both Wisc.DOT and MDOT have repeatedly said U.P. passenger rail service will not happen, proposals of resolution continue to circulate.

In July of last year, Central Michigan University’s public radio, WCMU published an article regarding Vallance’s push for a U.P. railway.

The article says Vallance said that he needs support from counties across northern Michigan before he can take his proposed plan to Michigan’s Department of Transportation. Weingarten said repeatedly there are no plans for it.

“The only ways these ideas are either going to move forward or the rumors will die out,” Weingarten said, “is if people realize what the challenges are and try to engage with it on a realistic level.”