By Igor Studenkov, Streetsblog Chicago; November 11, 2019
Thanksgiving week is usually Amtrak’s busiest in terms of ridership, so the railroad tends to increase service to meet demand, adding capacity and, in many states, adding extra trains. But this year, riders heading from Chicago to Michigan will have fewer options than they had in the past seven years.
Most of the routes that use Chicago’s Union Station are state-supported routes — medium distance routes that are largely funded by the local departments of transportation. That means the service levels depend on how much money each state is willing to pay.