The Pere Marquette in southwestern Michigan in 2011.
(Russell Sekeet, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
PERE MARQUETTE (AMTRAK)
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. The westbound train leaves Grand Rapids during the morning rush, with the eastbound train leaving Chicago after the afternoon rush, enabling same-day business travel between the two cities.
The train is named for a named train of the defunct Pere Marquette Railway, and in turn for Pere Marquette, Michigan, an early name for Ludington. The town was named for Father Jacques Marquette, a French explorer of the Great Lakes region.
Amtrak Pere Marquette Route Map.
(Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; via Wikimedia Commons)
Route
The Pere Marquette operates over Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation trackage:
- Norfolk Southern between Chicago and Porter, Indiana.
- CSX between Porter, Indiana and Grand Rapids.
The Pere Marquette at Grand Rapids in 1991.
(Hikki Nagasaki, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
History
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.
Amtrak revived the name for a new Grand Rapids–Chicago service on August 5, 1984, with financial support from the state of Michigan. 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. The 1984-opened station in Grand Rapids was replaced with Vernon J. Ehlers Station on a new spur line in 2014.
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.
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. The train returned on June 29 with the eastbound run to Grand Rapids, with full service in both directions resuming on June 30. In the interim, Grand Rapids' only connection to the national system was an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach 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.
Overview
Service type: Inter-city rail
Locale: Midwest United States
Predecessor: Pere Marquette
First service: August 4, 1984
Current operator: Amtrak
Annual ridership: 86,148 (FY22) Increase 64.5%
Route Termini: Chicago, Illinois / Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stops: 4
Distance traveled: 176 miles (283 km)
Average journey time: 4 hours
Service frequency: Daily
Train numbers: 370, 371
On-board services
Classes: Coach Class, Business Class
Disabled access: Train lower level, all stations
Catering facilities: Café (snack coach)
Baggage facilities: Overhead racks
Technical
Rolling stock: GE Genesis, Superliner
Track gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed: Up to 79 mph (127 km/h) (Current); Up to 110 mph (180 km/h) (Planned)
Track owner: CSX, NS, Amtrak