I just drove down I55 from Joliet to Springfield, IL tonight and about 15 miles north of Springfield I noticed an Amtrak train on the U.P. main (formerly GM&O) accelerating southbound after meeting another Amtrak northbound train (one of the St. Louis trains I think as it was all single level coaches). The southbound train I believe was the Texas Eagle with one P42 and about eight bi-level cars. Anyway, I paced him along I55 for about three miles doing about 53-55mph (yes, the other drivers were not too happy as we were in 65 mph territory and everybody routinely does 70-75) and all of a sudden he accellerated away from me and seemed to be doing about 80-85mph. Do you folks think I may be right about him doing 80-85 on that route. I did not want to go that fast and keep up with him and chance a trafffic ticket. Any opinions would be appreciated. [:)]
For that stretch I would think track speed of 79 mph would be normal.
Probably so, but I kind of think he was cheating a bit to make up time (he was running about an hour late into Springfield) because I was doing over 80 at one point and could not catch him without going about 90 which I was not going to do.
Could’ve been. I’ve ridden the Texas Eagle three times which of course does not make me an expert. I do know when the Eagle was running late they made up time somewhere. Seem to recall talk of trying to make the UP mainline through here capable of 90 mph trains…maybe that track in Illinois can already handle the speeds. I also recall that they were installing better gates at the crossings up there…maybe to get ready for the faster speeds.
IIRC, that’s the stretch of track that a former fellow church member (we’ve changed churches recently) told me all about how his company was helping upgrade equipment for 100 MPH running. He even sent me pictures once that he took while riding an instrumented train- I’ll have to go digging through my archives.
I doubt if he exceeded 79 mph. Most if not all Amtrak locomotives carry a black box recorder that upon routine examination of the record tape would then result in the engineer’s severe reprimand if not termination.
Is it possible the Interstate and the tracks were not quite parallel at the point where you observed the apparent higher speed, causing you to drive faster to catch up or match the train’s speed? For example, there are bends in I-55 near Elkhart and Williamsville, IL, but the track is still straight.
The only track of which I am aware that is signaled for 100 mph train service is along the old AT&SF mainline through Kansas and possibly Colorado and New Mexico to near Las Vegas, NM. That’s the route of the old Chiefs and the present Southwest Chief.
I rode the Texas Eagle in Feb of this year from Chicago to St. Louis. I had my scanner with me and the detectors along the way reported the trains speed. We did 79 mph most of the way once we left suburban Chicago until just before St. Louis. I recall that we seemed to be passing 99% of the traffic on the interstate.
Mike in Tulsa
The line from Springfield north was closed for quite a time (closed to AMTRAK) as it was reworked to support high speed trains. It was re-opened but I have not heard that the speed limit was changed. See the link below.
http://mesh.medill.northwestern.edu/mnschicago/archives/2003/10/highspeed_train.htm
Art
Back in 1967, I tracked IC’s Panama Limited about 30 miles south of Kankakee. It was doing 102. What is that stretch of track like today? Could it support the types of speeds Art is talking about?