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The M-1 Rail Line, also known as the Woodward Avenue Streetcar by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a streetcar line under construction, to run along M-1 (Woodward Avenue) in Detroit, Michigan. In December 2011, city and state leaders announced a plan to offer bus rapid transit service for the city and metropolitan area instead of light rail as had previously been proposed. Soon afterwards, M-1 Rail, a consortium of private and public businesses and institutions in the region, announced the plan for a streetcar line along part of the same route as the cancelled light rail plan, connecting the downtown Detroit People Mover to the railway station in New Center which serves Amtrak and the proposed SEMCOG commuter rail system. ==History== Detroit's first streetcar service began in 1863 with horsecars. Electrification of the streetcar system followed, starting in 1886. Detroit's streetcar lines eventually saw their operations consolidated under the privately owned Detroit United Railway. Municipal takeover and control of the streetcar network by Detroit's Department of Street Railways followed in 1922. But the Department of Street Railways' introduction of buses (starting in 1925) ultimately led to the demise of the original streetcar system in 1956.〔 Planning for the return of rapid transit to Detroit began in 2006 when the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) commissioned a study to determine expanded mass transit options along Woodward Avenue.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Woodward Light Rail )〕 Concurrently, a private group of local business leaders decided to provide matching funds to government dollars to develop a $125 million, line through central Detroit (similar to the Tacoma Link) called the M-1 Rail Line. After much wrangling between the private investors and the DDOT, the two groups decided to work in tandem on developing DDOT's line. The proposed line ran along Woodward Avenue from the Rosa Parks Transit Center to the old State Fairgrounds along 8 Mile Road.〔 The line would have had 19 stops with 10 cars running at a time in two-car trains; each train would carry 150 people. The trains would run in a dedicated right-of-way in the median from 8 Mile to Adams Street at the north end of downtown. South of Adams, the trains would run in traffic along the sides of the street. The estimated cost for the proposed line was $500 million.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Woodward Light Rail Project Cancelled, M-1 Streetcar Still in the Works )〕 The Kresge Foundation awarded a $35 million grant to the city for the project in March 2009. It received $25 million in funding from the United States Department of Transportation in February 2010.〔〔 The Detroit City Council approved the sale of $125 million in bonds on April 11, 2011. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the City of Detroit signed an environmental impact study on July 1, 2011.〔 Finally, on August 31, 2011, the FTA signed a record of decision allowing the project to move forward. In December 2011 the federal government withdrew its support for the proposed line, in favor of a bus rapid transit system which would serve the city and suburbs. This decision arose out of discussions between federal Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Governor Rick Snyder. The private investors who had initially supported the smaller M-1 Rail line to New Center stated that they would continue developing that project through the nonprofit M-1 Rail Consortium. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「M-1 Rail Line」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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