At Porter (MP 240.7), CP 482 on the former Conrail Chicago Line, the Amtrak Line turns away northeast from the former New York Central route from Chicago, along a section of the old Michigan Central route now owned by Amtrak since it did not meet Conrail’s criteria for retention as a freight route, single track, ABS, Rule 261, passenger speeds 60 mph and over, freight speeds 50 mph, past CP 238 (MP 238.9), Furnessville, a detector at MP 236.3, a turn north, where the route of the erstwhile Monon line comes alongside to the east, the flat crossing with the South Shore at 10th Street (MP 229.8), a turn east-northeast, with a connector from the South Shore trailing in from the southwest and a power plant alongside to the north, the former junction with the erstwhile Monon trailing in on the south side at Michigan City (MP 228.9), where there is a passenger station, the movable bridge at Drawbridge (MP 228.5), where an 11,000 ft. controlled siding starts and a Noroflk Southern (former Lake Erie & Western) line turns away southeast. and CP 226 (MP 226.2), where the controlled siding ends.
The line turns northeast past the State Line between Indiana and Michigan (MP 222.7), Grand Beach, and New Buffalo, and turns east, passing beneath the former Pere Marquette line that carries Amtrak's eponymous Grand Rapids train, and then passing CP 213 (MP 213.7), where a 9,000 ft. controlled siding starts, Three Oaks, CP 211 (MP 211.8), where the controlled siding ends, Avery, Galien (MP 206.0), where Michigan Central lines from the north and southeast once intersected the line, and Dayton, where it turns east northeast to Buchanan, where a line once turned away north, and turns south-southeast, then east and curvily northeast past CP 192 (MP 192.2), where an 8,976 ft. controlled siding starts, a former flat crossing with an erstwhile Big Four line, Niles (MP 192.0), where a line once trailed in from the south, there is a passenger station, and a line once left to the east, and CP 190 (MP 190.5), where the controlled siding ends. Much of this route is through agricultural fields bordered by lines of trees.
Heading straight now, in a northeasterly direction, the line reaches the section where Amtrak is arranging for 110 mph speeds, past the former Niles yard, East End, where another line once headed away east, Pokagon, CP 180 (MP 180.1), where a 10,560 ft. controlled siding starts, Dowagiac (MP 179.6), CP 178 (MP 178.1), where the controlled siding ends, and Glenwood, turning east-northeast past Decatur (MP 168.3), CP 161 (MP 161.5), where a 6,158 ft. controlled siding starts, Lawton, where an erstwhile Pere Marquette line once passed underneath, CP 160 (MP 160.2), where the controlled siding ends, Mattawan, a detector at MP 151.9, and Miller, turning just south of due east past CP 147 (MP 147.1), where double track, ABS, Rule 251, starts, eastward on the south track (Track 2) and westward on the north track (Track 1), with passenger speeds 60 mph and freight speeds 50 mph, northeast where the erstwhile Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago once came alongside to the east, past the end of Amtrak ownership at MP 145.06, Asylum (MP 144.9), and MP 144.6, where the speed limit drops to 30 mph, and turns east, where a line once trailed in on the north side, to Kalamazoo (MP 143.4), where there is a passenger station with a brick depot on the south side of the line, there is a flat crossing with a former PRR line, a second flat crossing, with a former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern line at BO Tower (MP 143.1), with a connector in the southeast quadrant, a former flat crossing with a GTW line at Harris (MP 142.9), a turn east southeast, View (MP 142.6), and West Botsford (MP 142.5) and remnants of the once large freight yard still existing on the south side at Botsford yard (MP 142.0), where there is a 4,550 ft. siding.