CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Amtrak passengers are in for a faster ride between Chicago and St. Louis.
It's a project that's been more than a decade in the making. Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation have been improving the freight railroad tracks between Joliet and Alton, Illinois to allow trains on Amtrak's Lincoln Service to run at 110 mph.
“You’ve might have seen over the years the improvements that have been made, rebuilding the railroad, adding fencing and signage,” noted Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari
Amtrak will announce new schedules later this year. But first, Magliari said, the railroad must see how the faster trains work with the upgraded infrastructure and train control technology.
“All of that’s in place. All we have to do is run for a while here at this higher speed to help make certain that the new schedules we’ll have later this year are reliable,” Magliari said.
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The current stop speed between Chicago and St. Louis is 90 mph.
“Right now our schedule, from Chicago to St. Louis, is about the same as driving, a bit more than five hours. We’ll see once we run for a few weeks here at this speed how much under five hours we can be,” said Magliari.
The biggest impediment to faster service, Magliari said, is delays on the tracks between Union Station and Joliet.
Amtrak hopes to improve schedules in the Chicago area by running Lincoln Service trains on Metra's Rock Island line between downtown and Joliet, but that's many years in the future.
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