The thing about the high speed rail part of the deal is Amtrak trains stop in Springfield. The city seems worried about trains flying down 3rd street at 110MPH, but the trains can’t go 110MPH down 3rd street and expect to stop at the station. Several months ago UP wanted to upgrade the track to 30-40 instead of the 10-15 they do through there now. I don’t think all those overpasses and underpasses will be neccessary, I think running the trains down the existing track would work fine. UP just majorly rebuilt the trak through there with concrete ties and new rails two years ago.
As for 10th Street, like was said before, it isn’t owned by UP, it is owned by NS. Somehow I don’t think UP is going to be willing to give up dispatching through Springfield to NS. Another thing is you’d have to relocate the Amtrak station from its current location to 10th Street, which may be inconvienent for tourists taking the train there, as the current station is right in downtown Springfield, close to the capitol and all the tourism stuff while 10th Street is a bit north of there. You may hurt Amtrak ridership in Springfield if 10th Street was used, but once Globa 4 opens, expect traffic on the GM&O to steadily rise from the current two freights a day to 20 or more.
If everything works out like planned, Amtrak would run 18 trains a day while UP would run around 20 a day out of their new Global 4 Yard in Joliet. Global 4 is expected to be open next summer, and they’re wasting no time building it either, so I’d expect it to open pretty close to on schedule at the rate they’re going. The 18 Amtrak trains a day, if it were to happen, would be several years out I’m sure.