Matty Moroun and the Michigan Central Station Chicago to Windsor HSR Fable

The station in 1982, photo- Jessica  Trevino

Billionaire and one time jailbird Matty Moroun has his son Matthew floating a fable to the media and  public.
This fable suggests that high speed  trains will run from Chicago through the abandoned Michigan Central Station in Detroit through the Tunnel to Windsor.

Unfortunately some simple facts make this fable difficult to believe.

• The Moroun family themselves have clearly shown a total disdain for for cooperating with officials in the past. They have owned the Michigan Central Station since 1995 and have left it to rot. They only recently replaced the windows in it because the City of Detroit was agreeing to sell them some nearby land.
• Matty and Matthew Moroun (owners of Detroit International Bridge Company, who own the Ambasador Bridge) were held in contempt of court and spent the night in jail January 12, 2012 due to their delay in allowing the Michigan Department of Transportation to complete the Gateway Project. That project would build connecting roadways to the bridge and take trucks off the residential streets near the bridge entrance on the USA side. Jail seemed to work as the Morouns began to cooperate and the much delayed project was completed in November 2012.
• CP Rail and Borealis Transportation Infrastructure Trust (a venture of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) own the current rail tunnel and use it exclusively for freight trains. The chance of passenger trains using the tunnel now is zero.
• The decade old Continental Rail Gateway $400 million plan by CP and Borealis to build a new twin rail tunnel for freight and use the existing old tunnel for trucks between Detroit and Windsor is dead. Besides the plan never considered that passenger rail would be part of this now doomed project.
•  The Michigan Central Railway Station would cost over $100 million to restore. 

So let us put this fable to rest….