The 304-mile (489 km)[3] line provides three daily round-trips between Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, via Ann Arbor and Detroit.

[4] Before Amtrak's takeover of most private-sector passenger service in 1971 the Wolverine was one of three trains which operated over the Michigan Central route between Chicago and Detroit.

Amtrak dropped the individual train names and rebranded all three Turboliner, in common with similar services to St. Louis, Missouri and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Although fast (and flashy), they were unable to reach their design speed of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) because of the poor quality of the Penn Central track in Michigan.

Starting in March 1976 Amtrak began replacing some of the Turboliners with conventional equipment, including new Amfleet coaches.

Due to the increased ridership on these trains, Amtrak tested an additional Chicago-Kalamazoo Wolverine frequency September 2 to 7, 2010.

[14] In December 2012, MDOT completed its purchase from Norfolk Southern of 135 miles (217 km) of track between Kalamazoo and Dearborn.

The final MDOT-owned section between Jackson and Ypsilanti would be targeted for the higher speed limit in fiscal year 2024.

[18] In a June 2014 report prepared for MDOT, the number of round trips on the Wolverine line was projected to increase from 3 to 10 by the year 2035.

[21] In March 2016, Ypsilanti approved $2 million toward the construction of a train platform in the Depot Town area of the city along the Wolverine route.

[22] In June 2020 the city rescinded the $2 million after failing to receive a federal grant to move the project forward.

It excludes trains that diverge at Battle Creek, the Blue Water and International, or the local Michigan Executive commuter service.

In September 2014, the state of Michigan reached an agreement with Talgo, a Spanish railcar manufacturer, to buy two trainsets for the Wolverine, at a cost of $58 million.

Despite this proposal, the Talgo railcars remained at the Amtrak facility in Beech Grove[27] until 2019 when they were moved back to Milwaukee.