QLINE / Stop 11 of 12
QLINE stopBaltimore Street
Center platform in the middle of Woodward · transfer to Amtrak
A center platform by Detroit’s Amtrak station in New Center: Wolverine trains to Chicago, express buses north up Woodward, and the College for Creative Studies a few minutes away.
Live GPS positions
- Platforms
- one center platform
- District
- New Center
- From Congress Street
- 23 min
- From Grand Boulevard
- 1 min
- Sponsor in 2017
- Penske
01 / Story
The stop’s story
Baltimore Street is the QLINE’s railway station. Detroit’s Amtrak station was built in 1994 to replace Michigan Central Station, which closed on January 6, 1988; its platform sits on the elevated railway, reached by a tower at the back of the building. Wolverine trains leave here for Chicago, and according to the QLINE’s 2022 transfer guide, SMART’s Woodward express buses and DDOT’s round-the-clock route 4 stop right across from the platform.
The stop was sponsored in 2017 by Penske, the company of Roger Penske, who chaired M-1 RAIL from the first day to the handover. The official QLINE site recommends Baltimore as its “Shop Detroit” stop.
The College for Creative Studies’ design school occupies the Argonaut Building: GM’s former research laboratory was renamed the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education in 2009. During the 2024 NFL Draft, car parks near Baltimore also served as park-and-ride sites.
- Transfer to Amtrak’s Wolverine trains
- SMART’s Woodward express buses and DDOT route 4
- The Argonaut Building and the College for Creative Studies
- A center platform in the heart of New Center
02 / From the window
What you see from here
From the center platform you see the railway overpass to the south and the Amtrak station’s tower to the west. Ahead toward Grand Boulevard, Cadillac Place, General Motors’ former headquarters, rises on the left, with the Fisher Building facing it.
03 / Timeline
The stop’s timeline
Michigan Central closes
Amtrak leaves Detroit’s grand railway station.
A new Amtrak station
The New Center station is built at Woodward and Baltimore.
Taubman Center
The Argonaut Building becomes the College for Creative Studies’ design school.
The stop opens
The stop is sponsored by Penske.
NFL Draft
Nearby lots work as park-and-ride sites.
The streetcar stops here every fifteen minutes, free of charge.
04 / Did you know?
Did you know?
The State of Michigan bought the Amtrak station site from General Motors for $889,000 in 1994.
A 1913 fire forced Michigan Central Station to open before it was finished, and Amtrak used it until 1988.
The railway bridge is about 65 meters from the stop: streetcars and cars pass underneath, while four tracks cross Woodward overhead.
A closer look
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-26
Every fact is sourced. Where sources disagree (the number of stops, the weight of the cars or the construction cost, for example) we follow the primary, official source and say so in the text. The timetable comes from the QLINE’s official GTFS data and live positions from the RTA’s feed.
- QLINE – On the Line ↗
- City of Detroit Open Data – QLine Stops ↗
- QLINE – Plan your ride (archived 2017) ↗
- QLINE Transfer Guide 2022 (PDF) ↗
- M-1 RAIL – QLINE Annual Report 2024 (PDF) ↗
- Wikipedia – Detroit station ↗
- Wikipedia – Michigan Central Station ↗
- Wikipedia – Argonaut Building ↗
- Wikipedia – Cadillac Place ↗
- OpenStreetMap – railway bridge over Woodward Avenue (way 39451778) ↗
05 / Nearby
Places within walking distance
Quarter Detroit places around the stop, with straight-line distances.
- 1 min walk · 15 mWoodward Bar & GrillFor decades Detroit's oldest gay bar and a home for Black LGBTQ+ Detroiters, open from 1954 until a fire destroyed it in 2022.
- 2 min walk · 134 mTrans-Lux Theatre (Woodward)The only Detroit work of celebrated New York theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb: a small 1932 newsreel house on Woodward whose rear-projection daylight system meant you didn't need a fully darkened room.
- 3 min walk · 214 mAlan C. Young & Associates, P.C.Detroit CPA firm on Woodward: audits, tax, bookkeeping and financial consulting for businesses and nonprofits.
4 min walk · 228 mHotel Saint Regis DetroitA six-story limestone hotel on West Grand Boulevard in New Center, built in 1966 in an old-world French style, steps from the Fisher Building and the Fisher Theatre.- 5 min walk · 307 mCorporate 52 Marketing GroupDetroit promo and branding company: corporate gifts, swag bags, printing and company stores, going since 2013.
- 5 min walk · 307 mDetroit DonutDoughnut business listed as a food truck with a New Center office address; we haven't yet confirmed it independently.
- 6 min walk · 360 mSculpt Pilates DetroitReformer Pilates studio on Woodward with small classes and certified instructors, welcoming to first-timers and seasoned regulars alike.
6 min walk · 386 mFisher BuildingMarble, mosaics, and golden details inside New Center’s monumental Art Deco landmark.
6 min walk · 390 mNew CenterDetroit's 1920s second downtown on Grand Boulevard: the gilded Fisher Building, GM's old headquarters, Broadway tours and Motown nearby.
Around the stop, from the official QLINE list and the map
- Detroit Amtrak station 2 min
The Wolverine trains’ station, toward Chicago, Ann Arbor and Pontiac.
- Argonaut Building – College for Creative Studies 4 min
GM’s former research laboratory, now a design school.
- Cadillac Place 4 min
General Motors’ former headquarters, a National Historic Landmark.
- Fisher Building 6 min
Albert Kahn’s 1928 Art Deco tower, home of the Fisher Theatre.
06 / Events
Events near the stop
Upcoming events at venues around the stop.
No nearby events in the calendar right now.
All events ↗