A little light rail news: It’s moving forward

Detroit’s light rail system is inching closer and closer. The M-1 rail, the 3.4-mile route, reached an agreement to collaborate with the city with the hope that it will connect to the much larger rail line that is proposed to run up Woodward.Excerpt:Leaders of a $125 million light rail project said Thursday they have reached an agreement to collaborate with the city on a three-mile plan to link city riders in a local transit system.The privately funded M-1 Rail, an approximately 3.4 mile, 12-stop route from Hart Plaza to Grand Boulevard, would be the “first phase” of a Detroit Department of Transportation’s proposed $371 million project. That plan, the Detroit Transit Options for Growth, calls for a light rail to extend from Grand to Eight Mile, said Matthew Cullen, M-1 project president and CEO.”We were always going to make sure we were compatible,” he said of the transit plans. “We’re totally motivated to be linked up with them. It is really an important step in having a real regional rapid transit system.” Read the entire article here.Read see a rendering of the rail system and read the Freep article here.Another article about light rail from Crain’s Detroit Business here.