Construction begins on Dearborn, Michigan rail station

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new $28.2 million federally-funded intermodal train and bus station in downtown Dearborn, Mich., providing greater connectivity for residents throughout the region.

The project will consolidate Dearborn’s two passenger rail facilities into a pedestrian-friendly, intermodal station in the West Downtown section of the city.

The new station will serve local residents and students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College and also accommodate tourists via a new pedestrian overpass at the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village, Dearborn’s largest tourist attraction with 1.7 million visitors every year. The intermodal facility will be designed for the planned Ann Arbor-Detroit commuter rail, as well as future high-speed intercity passenger rail service. It will also accommodate city, regional and intercity bus systems; local and tourist shuttles; bicycle and greenway linkages and, auto, taxi and limousine connections to Detroit International Airport.


The new Dearborn station will continue to serve Amtrak’s Wolverine passenger rail service, which provides three round trips daily between Pontiac, Mich., and Chicago, Ill. In 2010, Dearborn’s current station ranked third in Amtrak ridership in Michigan with more than 82,000 travelers.

Preliminary work began in March with utility alterations on the construction site and completion is expected by fall 2013.

It’s estimated that the intermodal station project will create 280 temporary construction trade positions and when completed, potentially offer 25 permanent positions.

Dearborn’s Intermodal Passenger Rail Station is fully funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated the money to the Federal Railroad Administration High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program. The FRA directed the money to the Michigan Department of Transportation for the building of the City of Dearborn’s station.

Construction for the station is being managed by Tooles/Clark, which is a joint venture of Tooles Contracting Group of Detroit and Clark Construction Company of Lansing.
The building and site will be sustainably designed to meet the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design program.

The station will include a metal roof with solar collectors; energy-efficient lighting; geo-thermal heating and cooling and storm water management features, such as rain gardens and bioswales.

It is expected these features will have the added benefit of reducing station operating costs.

Dearborn’s current Amtrak train station, built four decades ago south of Michigan Avenue and east of the Southfield Freeway, will be reutilized.