OWOSSO (WKZO) — The Michigan Department of Transportation is paying 1.1-million dollars a year to lease passenger train cars that have been sitting in a rail yard in mid-Michigan for years.
The “Detroit Free Press” reports the 23 cars date back to the 1950s and 60s and were supposed to be used for passenger rail travel from Detroit to Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor to Howell. The tracks won’t be ready until 2017 at the earliest, and environmental studies for the routes are also incomplete.
To date, the state has paid 2.7-million dollars to lease the train cars and another 7.6-million to renovate them.
