Time Line - 2020

Last Year | Next Year

• January 7: The Conrail drawbridge over the Rouge River was automated today and the tower closed. The U.S. Coast Guard approved the automation of the interlocker and bridge from the CR dispatch center in New Jersey.

• March: Amtrak dramatically curtails operations nationally as the COVID-19 epidemic keeps people off trains and at home. In Michigan, their Detroit to Chicago route is reduced to one round-trip per day (from 3). On the Grand Rapids and Port Huron runs, a round trip continues but with very few riders.

• Summer: The Lake State Railway adds GPS devices to locomotives as they are shopped for inspections. [MRF-8/20]

• September 20: The former C&O Freight House at Grand Ledge is destroyed by a fire.

• November 16: The 2nd main line on the former Union Belt is removed through Delray interlocking and all signals are replaced. The tower is deactivated, being remote controlled by the CSX in Jacksonville. This was the last staffed interlocking tower in Michigan, not at a drawbridge.

• Fall: SNAPSHOT of Delray - A current normal weekday will see several CSX intermodal trains and a pair of Norfolk Southern intermodal trains in and out of Livernois Yard, just north of the tower; a few yard jobs out the east end of CSX Rougemere Yard, just west of the tower; a NS yard job to work the Boat Yard area to the tower’s east; NS moves to wye power for Oakwood Yard, to the southwest; NS trains to and from Sterling Yard, on Conrail to the north; Conrail locals that work nearby industries as needed; several CP run-throughs to and from Canada (intermodal, racks, oil, and mixed freight); a pair of CP locals to and from Canada’s Windsor Yard in Canada, to interchange with CSX and NS; and several CN mixed freights (and occasional sand and empty rack trains). [Trains-2020-1117]

• December: Canadian Pacific acquires full ownership of the Detroit River rail tunnel from OMERS for a reported $312 million. In 1995 Conrail sold the tunnel to CN and CP. CN sold its share in 2000. About 400,000 railcars used the tunnel annually. [R&R-2020-12]

• Kalkaska applied for a $8.7 million US DOT grant to create a master plan to establish a large intermodal rail yard on the Great Lakes Central. [MRF-8/20]

Time line Key:

• Railroad event in Michigan
• Event relating to mining
• Event related to car ferries
• Event outside of Michigan
• Improvement in Technology
• Railroad built or extended
• Railroad abandoned and/or removed
• Economic panic or depression