Eric D. Lawrence

Detroit Free Press

A completed high-speed rail corridor between Chicago and Detroit could boost round-trip passenger train service between the two cities from the current three daily trips to 10 by 2035 at speeds of 110 m.p.h., according to preliminary planning on the project.

The higher speeds would also cut the 5 hour, 38 minute trip by almost two hours, and reduce 20 minutes from the leg that continues from Detroit to Pontiac, which would see an extra four daily round-trips from the current three.

The information is part of a draft environmental impact statement released last month and discussed Tuesday during a meeting at the new John D. Dingell Transit Center on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, which is set to open in December.

The approximately 300-mile high-speed corridor is being designed to make rail an attractive alternative to highways and air for passenger travel between the Detroit area and Chicago, according to the statement. The route from Michigan City, Ind., to Pontiac would follow Amtrak's Wolverine route, but several options are under consideration for the trip from Union Station in downtown Chicago to Michigan City, an area with heavy levels of freight traffic.

Barbara Adams, 62, and Mary Jo Durivage, 65, both of Dearborn, were among a few dozen people who attended the meeting.

Both have adult children living in Chicago, and they said that city's public transit options are among the reasons their children choose to live there.

Adams said she is concerned that the current proposal does not include a stop at Detroit Metro Airport. She noted that many other cities link their airports to their local rail systems.

"We're trying to improve the route not just between Chicago and Detroit. We're supposed to be improving the transportation system in all of Southeast Michigan," she said. "We're missing an opportunity. …Why don't we have that connection?

Durivage, who has a car but takes the bus into Detroit for work every day, wants more stops along the route, which would see as many as 16, but she said that speed is the main concern for most current and potential riders. She took the train from Chicago on Sunday and did not arrive in Dearborn for seven hours.

Matt Webb, a consultant with the planning and engineering company HNTB, said that the Wolverine line is one of Amtrak's worst-performing lines for on-time service.

Funding could be the biggest issue for the system.

The project would include the construction of new station buildings in New Buffalo, Ann Arbor, Detroit's New Center and Royal Oak as well as an additional new station in northwest Indiana. Improvements would be needed all along the route, the planning documents say.

Mohammed Alghurabi, senior project manager for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said the entire project is contingent on funding, and that there is no current date for when construction could start in earnest. Improvements that support high-speed rail are continuing along the corridor, he added.

Officials hope to have a final decision on the corridor by spring of 2015. The current comment period on the environmental statement ends Dec. 19.

"There's a lot of public interest to see the project move forward," Alghurabi said. "The good news is you have the three states — Illinois, Indiana and Michigan — working together … toward a common goal."

The total cost is estimated at $2.37 billion to $2.98 billion. For information, go to www.greatlakesrail.org/

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence