and joined the main Chicago—Detroit line at Porter, Indiana; and a Conrail (ex-Pennsylvania Railroad) route via Kalamazoo. Although the Conrail route was faster, a dispute over costs led to the selection of the C&O route. Service began August 5, 1984, with stops at Grand Rapids, Holland, Bangor, St. Joseph, New Buffalo and Hammond-Whiting. Like the Blue Water, the Pere Marquette receives financial support from the state of Michigan. Track The tracks used were originally part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central Railroad, Grand Trunk Railway and Pere Marquette Railway systems, and are now owned by CSX, Norfolk Southern, the Canadian National Railway, Conrail and Amtrak. The following lines are used: Blue Water Grand Trunk Western Railway (GT), Battle Creek, Michigan (on the Michigan Central Railroad east of Kalamazoo) to Port Huron, Michigan, now CN Pere Marquette Pere Marquette Railway, Porter, Indiana to Grand Rapids, Michigan, now CSX Wolverine Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR), Chicago, Illinois to Whiting, Indiana, now NS Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (NYC), Whiting to Porter, Indiana, now NS Michigan Central Railroad (NYC), Porter to Detroit, Michigan, Amtrak between Porter IN and Kalamazoo MI to the west and MDOT d/b/a Amtrak from Kalamazoo MI to Dearborn, minus CN track through Battle Creek and Conrail in Detroit Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (GT), Detroit to Pontiac, Michigan, now CN Proposed improvements High-speed rail The Detroit-Chicago corridor has been designated by the Federal Railroad Administration as a high-speed rail corridor. A stretch along the route of Blue Water and Wolverine from Porter, Indiana to Kalamazoo, Michigan is the longest segment of track owned by Amtrak outside of the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak began speed increases along this stretch in January 2002 to between Niles and Kalamazoo. Increases to were first approved along the corridor in February 2011 between Porter and Kalamazoo. On May 25, 2021 the federally approved accelerated-speed rule went into effect along the corridor from Kalamazoo to Albion. Expansion The Michigan Department of Transportation has petitioned Amtrak to add a daily train between Chicago and Kalamazoo, departing Chicago in late evening and returning from Kalamazoo in the morning. Amtrak operated an extra frequency during the Labor Day weekend in 2010. The trains, 356–357, left Kalamazoo at 5:50 am and returned from Chicago at 10:00 pm. In 2013 Amtrak ran special holiday trains, numbers 356 & 359 out of Chicago to Ann Arbor. These