This opinion piece first published in 
I have always believed our earliest experiences shape the people we become.
As a child growing up in Michigan, most of my family was spread across the country from Chicago to Florida to California. Every few years we would board a plane to visit relatives and I typically got the window seat. For hours I would stare at the landscape below, watching the patchwork quilt of farm fields stretch for hundreds of miles. From that perspective, it was impossible not to notice how we humans have shaped the world around us.
Looking back, those flights probably sparked my fascination with geography, planning and, ultimately, transportation. Today, I work on the North+South Passenger Rail Project, an initiative working to bring the return of passenger rail service to communities across Mid and Northern Michigan, with connections to the Ann Arbor and Detroit regions.
To me, transportation is not just about moving from one place to another, it’s about connecting people, expanding opportunities and making everyday life a little easier and safer.
While much of my work involves familiarizing myself with the technical aspects, like track conditions, safety systems and ridership forecasts, I often find myself returning to something much simpler — people.
To me, transportation is not just about moving from one place to another, it’s about connecting people, expanding opportunities and making everyday life a little easier and safer.
I also have my own lifelong appreciation for trains. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in a donut shop with my mom in Holland, watching the Amtrak Pere Marquette arrive and depart. Years later, my husband and I would take the train to Chicago with friends, spending the day exploring the city, eating good food, before riding home later that evening. Those trips were memorable because they were enjoyable. The gentle rhythm of the train, the ability to walk around, or simply relax made the journey part of the experience.
When I moved to Traverse City several years ago, I joked that working on passenger rail was partly selfish; I simply wanted to have a train where I live again. There is some truth in that. I would love for my children to grow up with that opportunity.
But after spending the past couple of years meeting with communities across Michigan, this project is about something much bigger than my own experience. The stories people share stay with me.
I’ve spoken with many grandparents who no longer feel comfortable driving long distances, especially during winters, but who desperately want to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. I’ve had people write to me about how they regularly travel many hours between regions for work and how much the train would help reduce the tedious and costly burden of doing so. I think of the husband who told me how having a train when he and his wife were making regular trips to the University of Michigan during her cancer treatments (she’s doing well now) would have made such a difference.
For many people, passenger rail gives them independence. Not everyone can drive. Some are too young. Others are older adults, have disabilities or face financial or medical challenges. A transportation system that works only for drivers isn’t a transportation system that works for everyone.
Critics often question whether enough people would actually ride a train. But recent experience across the country tells a different story.
Passenger rail is not simply an expense, its infrastructure that supports economic development and improves quality of life, and Michigan is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this.
New passenger rail routes have consistently exceeded expectations. Amtrak’s Borealis service between Chicago and St. Paul dramatically outperformed its projected ridership, carrying over 416,000 passengers in its first two years, far outperforming its estimated 155,000 annual riders. And the new Amtrak Mardi Gras service that opened in August last year, reached its first-year ridership goals in just eight months!
Rail also brings lasting economic benefits. Communities with passenger rail service often see new investment around stations and increased business activity. Passenger rail is not simply an expense, its infrastructure that supports economic development and improves quality of life, and Michigan is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this.
While my work focuses on the North+South corridor, there is growing excitement around additional passenger rail investments, including the potential to expand service across southern Michigan with the Coast to Coast line between Holland and Detroit, and the state has a goal of doubling frequency on all three existing Amtrak routes. These projects shouldn’t be seen as competing visions, they’re complementary pieces of a transportation network that better connects our state.
Michigan has primarily viewed transportation through the lens of highways. Roads will always be essential, but they shouldn’t be our only investment.
If we want young people to stay in Michigan, families to put down roots here and businesses to invest here, we need to build places where people want to live. Expanding rail, and public transportation more broadly, is a powerful way to make Michigan more competitive into the future.
The choices we make today will shape how connected and resilient our state is for decades to come. Investing in passenger rail is ultimately an investment in people. 
Carolyn Ulstad is Groundwork’s Transportation Program Manager.
carolyn.ulstad@groundworkcenter.org
