Detroit M-1 Rail: We’ll open in 2016

A spokesman for Detroit's public-private partnership M-1 Rail project, now under construction, told a community group Thursday evening, Jan. 29, 2015, the project would be open for passenger service sometime next year.

Sommer Woods, M-1 director of external affairs, made the pledge at the second of six community meetings scheduled the Garden Theater in the city’s midtown neighborhood, according to local media.

Construction along Woodward Avenue is expected to intensify as 2015 progresses, but project representatives vowed to ease any inconvenience to local business.

“We know that a lot of business in the community is going to drop 40% because of construction,” Greg Louis, business mitigation manager at Midtown Detroit, Inc., acknowledged, adding, “The businesses still need you.”

Last October Railway Age reported M-1 Rail awarded a $30 million contract to Prague, Czech Republic-based Inekon Group for six vehicles, which was subsequently affirmed by M-1 as winter approached.

Last July Alameda, Calif.-based Stacy and Witbeck, Inc. was named construction manager and general contractor for the 3.3-mile, $140 million project.