Catching a Train in the Motor City

Residents in the Motor City love their cars, but with the high cost of gasoline, now might be a great time to plan a trip by train rather than automobile.

Amtrak offers a number of daily trips between the Detroit area and Chicago, none of which will break the bank.

Depending on when you buy your tickets, a round-trip ticket between Detroit and Chicago can cost as little as $50.

Amtrak offers two trains that travel between Chicago and the greater Detroit region - the Wolverine and the Blue Water line. Both trains have Chicago's Union Station, which is about two blocks from the Sears Tower in Chicago, as their western terminal. From Union Station, public transportation is available to popular destinations around the Windy City. Union Station is also a major hub for Amtrak, with trains leaving there bound for the West, East and Gulf coasts and many points in between.

The train trip from Detroit to Chicago takes about six hours, about an hour longer than it would take to make the trip via car. Of course, in the train, you are leaving the driving to the engineer.

The Wolverine line, which features three eastbound and three westbound trains per day, begins in Pontiac and then has Detroit area stops in Birmingham, Royal Oak, Detroit, Dearborn and Ann Arbor before moving on to Jackson, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo Dowagiac and Niles, MI, and Michigan City and Hammond, IN, before arriving in Chicago. One of the daily trains also offers stops at Greenfield Village during the summer. Several of the stations are only partially enclosed shelters where the train only stops long enough to board and unload passengers. With the exception of Detroit and Pontiac, the train won't stop at these stations unless a passenger has a ticket to board or leave the train at these places.

The Blue Water line, which features one eastbound and one westbound train per day, has Port Huron as its easternmost stop, then travels to Lapeer, Flint, Durand and East Lansing, MI, before joining the same line as the Wolverine in Battle Creek. For those farther west, the Pere Marquette line offers serve from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Holland, Bangor, St. Joseph and New Buffalo, MI.

Both the Wolverine and the Blue Water feature a lounge car, where food and drinks are available. You can plan on paying about $5 for a pre-made sandwich and about $5.50 for a beer. Soft drinks are about $2.50. A variety of other cold snack items are also available.

Amtrak also invites passengers to bring their own food on the train. If you are planning on making Chicago your final desitnation for a day-trip from the Detroit area, lockers big enough to hold a small cooler and a backpack of books and magazines are available at Chicago's Union Station for $9 per day. Larger lockers, which could accomodate two or more suitcases, go for $12 per day. Passengers are allowed to carry suitcases on the train. There is no checked baggage service on any of the Michigan lines.

Another nice day trip from the Detroit area is to take to train to Battle Creek. From the Battle Creek station, Kellogg's Cereal City and several other local attractions are only a 10-minute walk away. There are no lockers available in Battle Creek, however.

The train is popular with college students, who enjoy a discount on tickets. Children under the age of 15 also are discounted, they travel for half-price. Children two and under ride free with an adult. Discounts on train travel are also availble for military personnel, veterans, senior citizens and through AAA.

Generally speaking, tickets get more expensive as the train fills up, so you can expect to pay more for a holiday weekend than you might on a typical day purchased a few weeks in advance.

Amtrak sells tickets online via www.amtrak.com. Tickets purchased more than two weeks in advance will be mailed to you at no charge. Tickets can also be shipped overnight for a surcharge. Tickets may also be purchased on the train itself and there is a ticket agent at the Detroit and Chicago stations.

Free or low-cost parking is available at or near most Amtrak train stations. One popular option for those needing to leave their car at the station, is to travel from Royal Oak. The city offers a parking pass for $5 a day (free on Sundays) at a city lot immediately adjacent to the train platform.