Railroad Serving Ann Arbor Put On The Market

Railroad serving Ann Arbor put on the market

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OWOSSO - The operator of Michigan’s longest freight railroad is offering to sell the line’s profitable southern portion to the state.

“We haven’t put a price on it yet,” said Vincent Malanaphy, president of Michigan Interstate Railway Co., which has operated the line for the past 4 1/2 years.

The line’s seven individual stockholders authorized him to make the offer last week, Malanaphy said Thursday.

James Kellogg, head of the state Department of Transportation bureau governing railroad programs, was unavailable for comment on the proposed sale.

Two trains a day carrying automobiles, auto parts, grain and cement now run over the 53 miles of Ann Arbor Railroad system track between Toledo, Ohio, and Ann Arbor.

The state would have to compensate the Owosso-based train company for property rights, outstanding unpaid bills and termination expenses, Malanaphy said.

Such an arrangement “would best suit the interest of everyone involved, including shippers, employees, the state of Michigan and MI stockholders,” he said in a statement.

Michigan Interstate ran trains between Toledo and Frankfort and across Lake Michigan on two ferries until last month. At that time, it halted northern service in a dispute with the transportation department.

The department has argued that it lacks the cash to continue the rail service on Malanaphy’s terms, and has slashed its subsidy to the railroad.

But the railway president, shippers, and railroad employees have protested the subsidy cut, and pressed lawmakers to help find extra money for the freight line.