Illinois Amtrak Service

bmichel5581 wrote: where'd ya hear that from? I'd just be thrilled if they CTC'd the stupid thing.

The application submitted by the State of Illinois. Check the pdf labeled Joliet – Dwight. (It's a big one 900 pages 66 Mb.) CTC will be installed. Speed will be 79mph.

The phase two plan would be 110-125, two main, end to end. The Chicago-Joliet, Springfield and Alton-St Louis alignments haven't been determined.

Tadman wrote: will this trackwork affect us?

Why, yes it will. Detour. See the Amtrak release for specifics.

StLouSteve wrote:What are the plans for speeding up the Alton to St. Louis section? As we have discussed before, it is a hodgepodge of two different adjacent railroads, differing signals and speeds with busy rail junctions.

I guess anything they do will be an improvement.

What about up north...any talk of restoring the Peoquot connection to the BNSF line so as to obtain another track from Joilet southward? Seems like it would be money well spent and lot cheaper than laying a second track adjacent to the GM&O line.

Certainly anything will help this pathetically slow section. Missouri is applying for $150M to replace the main spans of the Merchants Bridge from the returned FL funds. So this indicates a desire to make that the main route rather than the MacArthur Bridge. Now this goes against Illinois' desire to put a station in East St Louis. I'm sure they coordinated with IDOT on this so I guess they're willing to sacrifice that. I'm doubtful MO will get this grant. Time will tell.

Right now, money would be best spent to -
install bi-directional CTC from Wann to WR Tower (Granite City)
install higher speed turnout at Wann (currently 15mph) if the line north of there is to remain single track
replace ~7 miles of old jointed rail on track 2 from WR to Lenox (currently 30mph timetable speed)
reconfigure WR and Lenox interlockings to permit higher speed operation - though this will be difficult due to the age and complexity of these plants

On the McArthur Bridge route into St. Louis, the State previously paid for UPRR to upgrade track 2 from WR Tower to Q Tower. Speed limit is currently 60mph. (Track 1 is half and half 40 and 25, then you have to go through a 10mph turnout at Q Tower to reach the 20mph North Approach track.) This is the preferred route since it has faster running. It is also, of course, the route that passes through the "suburban" communities on the Illinois side - Granite City, Venice, Madison, East St. Louis, etc. If the TRRA is looking for $$$ to rehab the Merchants Bridge under the guise of passenger service improvement, then perhaps their ulterior motive is to abandon the North Approach track to McArthur altogether? Hardly anything but Amtrak uses it, after all. But it's more likely that they're just taking a "crap shoot" to see if they can land some bucks for the Merchants Bridge - it is in rough shape and already has certain load restrictions in effect for two trains passing over it at the same time.

Anyway, I would be very interested in details of specific improvements to be made between Alton and St. Louis.

Don't they need ptc soon ?

EricL wrote:Anyway, I would be very interested in details of specific improvements to be made between Alton and St. Louis.

Me too, improvements are desperately needed. I'd hate to see the northern approach to the MacArthur left to rot since that'd be the preferred route for service to Indy if my dreams ever come true. Plus you get a great view of downtown going that way.

Amtrak has best March ever. 17 months of growth....two of three Illinois corridors post all time ridership highs


March 2011:
St. Louis : 57,070
Carbondale : 28,087

Quincy : 19,243

Summer (July especially) is going to be a wild ride if we are posting these kinds of numbers in March.

quincunx wrote:

EricL wrote:Anyway, I would be very interested in details of specific improvements to be made between Alton and St. Louis.

Me too, improvements are desperately needed. I'd hate to see the northern approach to the MacArthur left to rot since that'd be the preferred route for service to Indy if my dreams ever come true. Plus you get a great view of downtown going that way.

If you want to read the actual applications submitted to the FRA for $186 million of the the Florida HSR funds, they can be downloaded at http://www.connectthemidwest.com/catego ... r-funding/. Warning: the IL Chicago - St. Louis Corridor Supplement documents are over 2,400 pages long! They put everything in, including the kitchen sink! You want details on the proposed new projects, you got 'em. May be stuff in there on the Alton to St. Louis section.

Here were the numbers just 4 years ago, from a post in March, 2007. Amazing growth. (One caution - it's sometimes been difficult to compare numbers in Illinois, since some postings include only state-sponsored trains, others include a broader sampling within the two corridors. But I believe these apples compare to the apples two posts above for this March.)

mkellerm wrote:Illinois March ridership numbers are out (state-supported only), and are really good for the new trains:

Chicago-Carbondale: 20,875 (up 75%)
Chicago-Quincy: 14,107 (up 44%)
Chicago-St. Louis: 33,875 (up 57.4%, including Ann Rutledge)
Chicago-Milwaukee: 47,863 (up 0.9%)

Consider that Milwaukee was everyone's idea of a wild success for a Midwestern train as recently as late 2006. Today, with fewer trains, the St. Louis numbers are well above the Milwaukee numbers from those days, and that's BEFORE significant improvements come on-line this year. They're going to save money by not paving that third lane of I-55, because there won't be anyone in it.

Chicago-St. Louis has always bee a vast underperformer, IMO, largely due to track conditions. I think, someday, it might make some sense to run trains through chicago to milwaukee but the talgo purchase complicates things I suppose. nonetheless, that's impressive growth in ridership, particularly on the st. louis and milwaukee corridors respectively.

Mr. 1617 JFK Blvd (street address for Phila Suburban Station), through Milw-StL service was inaugurated by Amtrak during November 1971. There was also Milw-Detroit service. I'm not certain as to what gave rise to its discontinuance.

As evidenced by the two page photo appearing in March TRAINS that was taken by a fellow, Tom Hoffmann who I knew during my active railfanning days, the Milw-StL Prairie State was a "classy" train complete with Dome, full-service Diner, and a Parlor Obs.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Mr. 1617 JFK Blvd (street address for Phila Suburban Station), through Milw-StL service was inaugurated by Amtrak during November 1971. There was also Milw-Detroit service. I'm not certain as to what gave rise to its discontinuance.
As evidenced by the two page photo appearing in March TRAINS that was taken by a fellow, Tom Hoffmann who I knew during my active railfanning days, the Milw-StL Prairie State was a "classy" train complete with Dome, full-service Diner, and a Parlor Obs.

I'd guess poor OTP. until today the st, louis corridor was too unreliable to pair with the relatively reliable hiawatha. I'm hoping that changes with all the work going into the route. poor reliability results not only in decreased ridership but also an increase in the amount of equipment required for a given level of service

Also don't forget St Louis now has a station that's a descent place to wait for a train. Also Amtrak has gotten lots of free advertising from all the HSR improvement reportage. OTP for KCY-STL is way better lately which is helping. And it's cheap.

I took the detour on the Texas Eagle last week. It was a treat. We made good time. Did 60 mph most the time. Not stopping helped.

afiggatt wrote: If you want to read the actual applications submitted to the FRA for $186 million of the the Florida HSR funds, they can be downloaded at http://www.connectthemidwest.com/catego ... r-funding/. Warning: the IL Chicago - St. Louis Corridor Supplement documents are over 2,400 pages long! They put everything in, including the kitchen sink! You want details on the proposed new projects, you got 'em. May be stuff in there on the Alton to St. Louis section.

Nothing for STL-ALN, these are for improvements for Dwight to Joliet, quad gates at some private crossings Dwight to East St Louis, and a study of a new station in East St Louis or Granite City. About 8 miles of 2nd mainline south of Joliet, a 2.1 mi siding at Braidwood, track upgrades Dwight to Joliet, and PTC Dwight to Joliet.

Can anyone tell me what is the alternate route for the Texas Eagle in Illinois during the high speed rail construction?

>>>Can anyone tell me what is the alternate route for the Texas Eagle in Illinois during the high speed rail construction?<<<

Believe that has already been discussed earlier in this thread. To my knowledge it is the former CE &I (UP Pana sub) line.