DETROIT – A new transportation hub is coming to Michigan Central in Detroit, and proposed plans include an intercity bus station and a new passenger rail.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the proposed plans for the new transit hub on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025.
The Michigan Department of Transportation, the city of Detroit and Michigan Central have partnered and signed a memorandum of understanding to invest an initial $40 million to build a new transit center within the 30-acre Michigan Central Innovation District.
“Downtown Detroit is open for business and on the move as one of the best places to live, work, and pioneer cutting-edge ideas,” said Whitmer. “Today’s MOU will help us build a new transit hub, including a new rail and bus station, to connect communities, grow our regional economy, and make downtown Detroit more vibrant. It builds on the historic investment in transit that we just made in the balanced, bipartisan budget I signed earlier this month. Let’s keep getting it done for Detroit.”
The hub is set to bring a direct connection between the Detroit-Ann Arbor Innovation Corridor and Detroit Metro Airport.
It also includes a proposal to extend the Chicago-Detroit Amtrak Wolverine train to also bring passengers to Windsor and Toronto.
The project is set to replace the Howard Street bus station that serves Greyhound, Indian Trails and Baron’s Bus and the city’s Amtrak station, which is located in the city’s New Center area.
MDOT owns both facilities.
These stations also don’t offer amenities that travelers expect, and each “has passed its useful span,” according to the release.
“This proposed transportation hub at the Michigan Central Innovation District will provide the district and its passengers with a more vibrant and accessible location, complete with modern amenities,” according to the release.
A $10 million grant awarded to MDOT through the Federal Transit Administration RAISE, along with an additional $30 million in state funding, will support the project initially.
“For decades, Michigan Central Station was the gateway to Detroit, and we are excited to begin the work of re-establishing train service at a new multi-modal transit facility in the shadow of the station,” said Chief of Infrastructure for the City of Detroit, Sam Krassenstein. “Detroiters deserve a first-class facility for bus and train service and this agreement puts us on a path to make it happen.”
Work on the new transit hub is still in its early stages, and decisions about the final designs, funding, timelines and more will be shared in the future.