MARQUETTE, Mich. — Marquette city officials are exploring the idea of expanding Amtrak rail service into the Upper Peninsula, a move they say could strengthen economic development, ease highway congestion, and improve regional connectivity.
At Monday’s City Commission meeting, commissioners discussed a letter expressing support for the potential extension of Amtrak’s passenger rail service into the U.P., a concept that would better connect the Midwest to Upper Michigan.
“There was a letter that had been sent to the city commission with an idea to approach Amtrak or at least express some support for the expansion of Amtrak into the Upper Peninsula,” said Commissioner Karen Kovacs. “Essentially connecting the Midwest states together, but mostly connecting lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula.”
City Manager Karen Kovacs said expanding passenger rail could have a strong positive impact on the area’s tourism industry and help support local entrepreneurs who rely on reliable access to goods and visitors.
“We actually just heard from one of our newer entrepreneurs that getting things here and getting people here has been a challenge for the growth of their company,” she said.
Officials also noted the environmental and safety benefits of rail travel, particularly as traffic increases on U.S. Highway 2, one of the region’s major travel routes.
“Some of the congestion that’s happening on the way from Lower Michigan into the U.P. along US-2 especially — we’ve even heard of some accidents,” Kovacs said. “It’s a lot of people, a lot of pulling over, a lot of campers. So if we have this opportunity to promote something that gets cars off of the road and makes it safer, this is something we certainly want to support.”
However, Kovacs acknowledged that space limitations within the city could make developing new rail infrastructure or a station more difficult.
“We certainly are aware that space in Marquette city is limited, so having something like a large train station or tracks go through might be a little more complicated for the city,” she said. “But we certainly support it to the area.”
Support for the project has also come from other local organizations, including Travel Marquette, the Lake Superior Community Partnership, and InvestUP. Kovacs said the next steps will depend on infrastructure feasibility and potential state or federal investment.
