I really hope they can get the Eagle to have an late afternoon Chicago departure again. An Empire Builder connection would be most helpful, as MSP the biggest market that the Texas Eagle has the most potential revenue for.
Sorry, I don't see that.
Likely a connection northwest bound. Now the
Eagle is set to arrive at 1:51 p.m. while the
Builder leaves at 2:15. So it doesn't connect. But when they cut minutes out of the
Eagle's trip time, it could arrive around 1 p.m. Wouldn't that just make it? I'm forgetting the minimum before Amtrak will recognize a legal connection at Chicago.
Illinois is saying the
Lincoln trains will run "about an hour" faster. As discussed hereabouts, the
Eagle will be somewhat less faster. The
Lincolns will benefit from the new locomotives and bi-level cars, while the
Eagle's consists will be same old, same old. Still it would seem in UP's interest for all trains to move as fast as they can on the corridor, simply to get out of the way.
A schedule announcement might not be made until a few months before the service actually changes, when the UP, Amtrak, and the Illinois DOT all have a better idea of what the upgrades will actually do for run times and traffic in the real world.
Then, as per this thread, Amtrak might also squeeze a few minutes out of the TRE segment. And perhaps cut padding around St Louis. That way it could find enuff minutes to make that desired Chicago arrival by 1 p.m.
But for your Minnesota passengers, I just don't see moving the
Eagle departure later. Illinois wouldn't want it as a rush hour train; that will be a
Lincoln departure, and they hope it's full up. The
Eagle will be at least half full of LD riders; so it will almost surely remain a mid-day train in the six-train line-up CHI-STL. And moving the Chicago departure by a few hours could mess up the times all the way from Texarkana to Ft Worth down to old San Antone.
Likewise, to move the
Builder's Chicago arrival before noon would force St Paul's nice 8 a.m. departure to become pre-dawn. Of course, that St Paul-Milwaukee-CHI line could be upgraded to take a couple hours out of the schedule. That's another story.