A Travel Game-Changer

Guest Opinion

By Lauren Teichner | Feb. 22, 2025

Trains loom large in our collective imagination. From the Hogwarts Express to the Polar Express, Snowpiercer to the Little Engine that Could, trains evoke adventure, magic, and self-discovery.

Agatha Christie captured this beautifully: “Trains are wonderful… To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers, in fact, to see life.”

Having lived in New York City for 15 years, I experienced this magic firsthand. I commuted over an hour each way by subway, and while that might sound exhausting, I loved it. The subway wasn’t just transportation—it was a space to read, reflect, and observe the incredible diversity of people and stories around me. Trains offered a rhythm and freedom to my days that cars couldn’t match. It’s a way of life I’ve missed since moving to northern Michigan.

The possibilities when traveling by train, especially across an entire state, are endless. Where to go? What to do when you arrive? Who to visit? How long to stay? And beyond the destination, the train journey itself becomes part of the adventure: watching the scenery rush by, reflecting in the quiet rhythm of the ride, chatting with seatmates, or even catching a nap.

Trains offer freedom from the financial, emotional and environmental costs of car travel (especially with gas costs these days), while opening doors for those who are unable to drive—car-less students, the elderly, those with medical conditions, grandchildren longing to visit their grandparents—to hit the rails and finally reach the places and people they dream of visiting.

Yet here in northern Michigan, we lack a passenger rail system, to our shared disadvantage. For those who live here year-round, visit seasonally, or travel for work or family, the absence of train travel forces us into our cars for long, costly, lonely, and often unsafe drives—especially on dark, snowy winter roads. We’re selling ourselves short.

A direct passenger rail connection between northern and southern Michigan would be a game-changer. It would boost economic opportunity and tourism (without the added traffic) while providing an essential lifeline for northern Michigan residents who need reliable, sustainable, and let’s be honest—fun!—transit options.

It would foster community and connection, offering fast and easy access to nearby towns, as well as to the more populous cities further south, such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Chicago. It would make Michigan a more enticing place for young people to move. And it would help to lay much-needed proverbial tracks toward a cleaner, more sustainable Michigan future.

The State of Michigan already owns 240 miles of tracks that could be made available for this new passenger rail line—starting in Petoskey and running through Traverse City, Cadillac, and other smaller towns, all the way to Ann Arbor and Detroit. These state-owned tracks are currently leased to (and infrequently used by) a private freight company and would need some upgrades to safely accommodate faster passenger rail cars.

We are in the lucky and unique position that our state already owns this lengthy set of tracks that are perfectly suited for this project. There are only three other train lines in Michigan, all of which are in the southern part of the state (catering to Chicago travelers), and all of which are owned by Amtrak.

At a time when the federal government is not prioritizing clean infrastructure projects, it is up to us to act at the state level. Efforts are already underway by local nonprofits and community groups to make this publicly owned north-to-south passenger rail system a reality. We need our representatives to take these efforts seriously, approve this project, and invest the needed funds.

So, what can you do? The answer is easy: Tell your state legislators that you want a passenger rail line in northern Michigan. Explain why train travel matters to you—whether it’s to visit family, commute, reduce your carbon footprint, travel home from college for the holidays, or simply because we all deserve better options. Change will only happen if we dream about it and demand it.

Minnesota just green-lighted its own passenger line connecting four million people living in Duluth and other parts of northern Minnesota to the rest of the state and country, a rail line that has been given the magical name of the “Northern Lights Express.”

More than 700,000 passengers are expected to ride in the first year—similar to the number of people that a feasibility study found would ride a northern Michigan passenger rail line once established.

If we can make our voices heard as loud as the rhythmic clatter of wheels on tracks, as steady and compelling as the sound of an engine building momentum, we can generate the energy and drive needed to bring our own passenger rail line to life.

Lauren Teichner is the founder and principal attorney at Teichner Law, a public interest environmental law firm based in Traverse City.