Michigan's three Amtrak lines will get up to 25 new bi-level passenger rail cars worth $106 million under a federal plan announced today.

The cars, which will be titled to the state or its designated entity, will replace the rail service's current fleet of 20 cars on its three lines, the Wolverine (Detroit/Pontiac-Chicago), Blue Water (Port Huron-Chicago) and Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids-Chicago) services, starting in 2015.

The stock will be cafȁ; cars, coaches and cab cars, but no engines, said Janet Foran of the Michigan Department of Transportation's office of communication.

"There will be a future procurement for the locomotives," she said, adding that the new cars potentially could be used for some other non-Amtrak passenger service.

The cars are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's $551 million Request for Proposals, announced today, for 130 new bi-level passenger rail cars that must be entirely made by American workers and American-produced steel, iron and manufactured goods.

Cars, which will include better bicycle storage and WiFi among passenger amenities, will be delivered to California, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and possibly Iowa, Washington said. The plan is part of the Obama administration's emphasis on rail transportation.

Funding will come from the Federal Railroad Administration's High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program.

A manufacturer will be picked in the fall.

MDOT and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. plan to aid suppliers in finding work on the federal rail car plan, which will pool the total rolling stock and disburse the cars according to state-by-state rail needs.

"In preparation for orders such as this, the U.S. Department of Transportation has partnered with the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership to connect large car builders and more than 34,000 domestic suppliers, and help them retool their production capabilities to meet demand," U.S. DOT said in a statement.

Much of Amtrak's current rolling stock are the ubiquitous tubular stainless street passenger cars manufactured in Pennsylvania by Budd Co., a company best known locally for its work as an auto supplier. The firm was bought in 1978 by German steelmaker Thyssen AG, and now is headquartered in Troy as ThyssenKrupp Budd. It no longer manufactures rail cars.

Amtrak, officially known as the National Rail Passenger Corp., is the U.S. government-owned national intercity passenger rail service launched in 1971.

Michigan subsidizes Amtrak's two of the state routes, with $8.6 million for the current year. The Detroit-Chicago route doesn't receive Michigan taxpayer support.

The federal government spent $1.4 billion in 2011 on Amtrak. The service has never been profitable, despite plans to make it so, and it lost about $500 million in its last fiscal year.

A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis in 2008 reported that Amtrak lost $55 per rider on each leg of the Detroit-Chicago line.

The Detroit-Chicago route saw 487,439 riders last year, a decline from 503,964 in 2010, according to numbers provided by MDOT. It had 431,128 riders in 2009 and 474,479 in 2008.

The line has seen 111,719 riders this year through today.

Michigan's three Amtrak lines collective have seen rider rise and fall in recent years. It was 724,658 in 2008, 663,421 in 2009, 775,997 in 2010 and 780,655 in 2011.

The state has received federal grants to buy track between Detroit and Chicago from freight lines. The goal is to raise the track speed limits from the slower freight speeds to up to 110 mph, which could cut travel time between Chicago and Detroit by 30 minutes.

The trip currently takes five hours and 30 minutes.