Chicago - St. Louis Lincoln Corridor to begin higher speed running

[west point]

The old Merchant's bridge has been replaced. ''The new one allows 2 trains at once and is much faster. The ~~ 20 miles from the bridge to Alton is jammed up with slow RR crossings scheduled for about 35 - 40 minutes. Maybe a 110 MPH (~10 minutes) viaduct over all the various RRs would speed up all trains.

 

[jis]

The old Merchant's bridge has been replaced. ''The new one allows 2 trains at once and is much faster. The ~~ 20 miles from the bridge to Alton is jammed up with slow RR crossings scheduled for about 35 - 40 minutes. Maybe a 110 MPH (~10 minutes) viaduct over all the various RRs would speed up all trains.

I understand it has been sped up to the blazing speed of 22mph! It used to be 5mph as I understand it

 

[Asher]

From NYC to New Haven, high speed rail is anything faster than an ice cream truck.

You are referring to the old Good Humor ice cream trucks. Right.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

You are referring to the old Good Humor ice cream trucks. Right.

Now I'm having visions of the next Lincoln Service train arriving in my town, playing the jingle the ice cream trucks used to play when I was little, instead of sounding the engine's horn!

 

[Siegmund]

Clearly, the existing 110 mph route between Chicago and Springfield, via Normal (and Dwight), would be retained. In fact, it should be double-tracked, which would unlock the right to run 8 daily trains, per the agreement with UPRR.

It ought to come with the right to run about 20, even if only 8 of the slots would be used right away.

A well-scheduled nearly-level double track line has a shockingly high capacity, if dispatched well. I watched trains whiz past every 5 or 10 minutes on double track, so many places in Europe last fall...

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

Plenty of trains whiz past Dwight -- but most of them are freight trains. Or when I'm driving N to the next county through the next town N of me (Mazon), there are double freight tracks there, and I have sometimes had to wait for a good 15 minutes at least for not 1, but 2 freight trains to go through the crossing there -- 1 train in each direction.

 

[Asher]

Plenty of trains whiz past Dwight -- but most of them are freight trains. Or when I'm driving N to the next county through the next town N of me (Mazon), there are double freight tracks there, and I have sometimes had to wait for a good 15 minutes at least for not 1, but 2 freight trains to go through the crossing there -- 1 train in each direction.

I'm not. But some call that a whistle stop.