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Illinois plans launch of 110-mph trains this summer
Hooray!!!
Hooray!!!
Won’t that Intermodal Transportation Center be connected to Joliet Union Station? Are ther any plans at all to completely double track the entier corridor?
All train need to run like that look at train speed in the 50s and you will know it can be done
While it is true that the “main” line – as in original C&A between Gardner (just north of Dwight) and Joliet via Braidwood and Elwood was single-track, the C&A had effectively double tracked the route with the Coal City Branch (constructed in 1879 between Joliet to Mazonia) parallel to the Santa Fe from Coal City. The separate lineage of today’s BNSF line between Joliet and Coal City is evident in the separated rights-of-way. See http://www.gmohs.org/SecondaryPages/A%20Condensed%20History%20of%20the%20GM&O.htm, http://www.trainweb.org/rshs/VD%20-%20GM&O%20Depots%20in%20Illinois%20-%201.htm, and http://www.gmohs.org/TertiaryPages/CnAMapFull.htm as references.
Too bad the connection to the BNSF at Pequot was pulled out a few years ago.
Cool! 110-mph is fast enough.
So 18 miles at 79 mph is 13 minutes 40 seconds. 18 miles at 110 mph is 9 minutes 49 seconds. Assuming that instantaneous acceleration to max speed, and decelleration back down to non improved track speed, 3 minutes and 51 seconds has been saved for passengers. Hooray!
What is happening to the fourth roundtrip? WHy can that one not be upgraded?
E Gads!!! What an improvement. A whole 18 miles out of what, 300 at a whopping 110mph. Gee, NE corridor, you better be looking over your shoulder. I’ll bet that the entire corridor will be upgraded by the time the Starship USS Enterprise embarks on its 5 year mission. The Enterprise will be warping through space and the corridor will be flying along at 110mph.
So that will shave about 4 minutes off the schedule, correct? But, as Don Phillips says, we must walk before we can run.
18 miles is it??? It’s a start I guess.
The winner in the negotiations…UP!
better than California’s Merced = Bakersfield, hi-speed route. 0 miles until…
Only 18 miles??
The rest of the upgraded route will not see higher speeds until a PTC system is installed and working. UP is resisting cab signals on any more than this short stretch because once it installs them, it will probably never get approval to remove them again, even if PTC renders them moot.
Mr. Weber also said that (assuming the current CN route from Chicago to Joliet is chosen for the higher speed corridor; more than one route is still under consideration) most of the speed improvements will likely be made within Chicago, increasing the average speed but not the maximum. The only possible increase above 79 might be to 90 between towns, but slowing to 79 again through them.
Mr. Weber also said trackwork for the Chicago-Dubuque route should start this year and service start in 2014; and work on the Chicago-Moline route should start late this year or early next, with service sometime in 2015. The connection at Wyanet will come off the south side of BNSF and tie into IAIS before it goes under the BNSF bridge.
While I commend this effort, Can’t see Amtrak screaming through downtown Dwight at 110 mph. It would blow the locals down the tracks.
The Illinois Department of Transportation agreement with Union Pacific allows the 110 mph speeds for the three Illinois-funded trains only. The other two trains, the Ann Rutledge and the Texas Eagle, are both part of the national Amtrak system and will continue to operate at a maximum of 79 mph.
At full build-out in 2014 or 2015, IDOT projects to be operating nine trains a day in each direction on this route; eight Chicago - St. Louis trains plus the Texas Eagle.
Using the Pequot line between Mazonia and Coal City as a means to bypass the 2012 construction zone was considered by IDOT, but BNSF would not agree to restoring the connection and having these trains on their tracks between Coal City and Joliet.
Overall, this project is progressing very well, and result in continued increases in ridership.
Bill Molony - Blackhawk Chapter, NRHS
The Illinois Department of Transportation agreement with Union Pacific allows the 110 mph speeds for the three Illinois-funded trains only. The other two trains, the Ann Rutledge and the Texas Eagle, are both part of the national Amtrak system and will continue to operate at a maximum of 79 mph.
At full build-out in 2014 or 2015, IDOT projects to be operating nine trains a day in each direction on this route; eight Chicago - St. Louis trains plus the Texas Eagle.
Using the Pequot line between Mazonia and Coal City as a means to bypass the 2012 construction zone was considered by IDOT, but BNSF would not agree to restoring the connection and having these trains on their tracks between Coal City and Joliet.
Overall, this project is progressing very well, and result in continued increases in ridership.
Bill Molony - Blackhawk Chapter, NRHS