Michigan Central Railway Tunnel

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Michigan Central Railway Tunnel
Carries	2 tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Crosses	Detroit River
Locale	Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario
Maintained by	Canadian Pacific Railway
Opening date	July 26, 1910
Maps and aerial photos

The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel is a railroad tunnel under the Detroit River connecting Detroit, Michigan, USA with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It was built by the Detroit River Tunnel Company for the Canada Southern Railway, leased by the Michigan Central Railroad and owned by the New York Central Railroad. The tunnel opened in 1910 and is still in use today by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

[edit] History

Prior to the construction of the tunnel, the Canada Southern Railway had several connections to Michigan at its west end, all car ferries. The northern one ran across the St. Clair River, connecting to the St. Clair and Western Railroad. The southern connection crossed the Detroit River south of Detroit, connecting to the Canada Southern Bridge Company at Grosse Ile. Additionally a branch (usually considered the main line) split from the line to Grosse Ile at Essex, running to the Detroit River at Windsor.

In 1891 the Grand Trunk Railway opened the St. Clair Tunnel at Port Huron, giving it an advantage over the Canada Southern and its car ferries. The Detroit River Tunnel Company was formed August 15, 1905 as a merger of the Michigan and Canada Bridge and Tunnel Company (in Michigan) and the Canada and Michigan Bridge and Tunnel Company (in Canada). Construction began in October 1906 under the engineering supervision of The New York Central Railway's engineering vice president, William J. Wilgus. The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel opened for passenger service July 26, 1910. Freight service began September 15 and on October 16 all traffic began running via the tunnel, ending the use of the former car ferry. From opening it was operated by the Michigan Central Railroad under lease of December 19, 1906.

On the east (Canadian) side, the tunnel connected to the line that had served a car ferry at Windsor. On the west (US) side, the tunnel connected to the Michigan Central Railroad main line west of downtown (later abandoned east of the junction), and the Michigan Central Station was built west of the junction, opening in 1913.

In 1968 the tunnel passed from the New York Central Railroad to Penn Central, and in 1976 to Conrail. In 1985, Conrail sold the tunnel to the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, with each getting a half share.^[1] In early 2000 CN agreed to sell its stake to Borealis Transportation and use only the St. Clair Tunnel.[1] Recently, plans from the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership (DRTP) were announced to construct a new railway tunnel and convert the railway tunnel to a two-lane road tunnel for transport trucks to alleviate pressure at the other nearby international border crossings (Ambassador Bridge, Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, and the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry), but these plans have been put on hold while the city governments of Windsor and Detroit, provincial/state governments of Ontario and Michigan, and federal governments of Canada and the United States determine the exact location of a future border crossing, with the City of Windsor's "GreenLink" proposal being the preferred option.