Michigan Services are three Amtrak passenger rail routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Port Huron, and Detroit, and stations en route. The group is a component of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative. The Michigan Services routes are: (364/365): Chicago to Port Huron, Michigan (370/371): Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan (350/351/352/353/354/355): Chicago to Pontiac, Michigan The routes carried 780,549 passengers during fiscal year 2018. Up until fiscal year 2014, the State of Michigan only subsidized the operations of the Pere Marquette and Blue Water at a cost of $8 million in fiscal year 2014. Starting fiscal year 2014, the state took on the costs of operations for the Wolverine pushing the state subsidy to $25 million. No checked baggage service is available on Michigan Services routes. History When Amtrak was founded in 1971, five private companies provided inter-city passenger service in Michigan: the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), the Grand Trunk Western, the Norfolk & Western, and Penn Central. Services provided: Upon taking over national passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, Amtrak discontinued almost all of these, keeping just two round-trips on the Penn Central's Chicago—Detroit line. Detroit lost its direct connections to St Louis, Cincinnati, Buffalo and the Canadian province of Ontario. On its first new timetable, issued on November 14, 1971, Amtrak bestowed names on these trains: the Wolverine and the St. Clair. In mid-May Amtrak announced a Toledo, Ohio—Detroit connection to the new Chicago—New York Lake Shore with financial support from the state of Michigan; this train was canceled before it ran because of poor track conditions between the two cities. Turboliners On April 10, 1975, Amtrak introduced French-built Turboliner equipment to the Michigan route. Amtrak added a third round-trip to the corridor on April 27. A pool of three Turboliner trainsets served the route, and the three round-trip pairs were numbered 350—355, which are still in use today. Amtrak dropped the individual train names and rebranded all three Turboliner, in common with similar services to St. Louis, Missouri and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The new equipment led to massive gains in ridership, topping 340,000 in 1975 and 370,000 in 1976. The Turboliners became a victim of their own success. Although fast (and flashy), they were unable to reach their design speed of because of the poor quality of the Penn Central track in Michigan. The five-car fixed consists had