Track Construction between St Louis and Chicago

[Recycle]

Is the track construction between St Louis and Chicago complete?

I'm planning a vacation trip in the fall of 2014 that involves taking a bicycle on the Lincoln service. In 2012, and as recently as Oct 2013, construction of the high speed line between St. Louis and Chicago caused periodic service disruptions betweent various stations. During the disruptions, passengers were bused around the construction zones, but the buses would not accommodate bikes.

It the construction and service disruptions are projected to continue into the fall of 2014, I will have to make other transport plans.

Thank you

 

[Nathaanel]

Never. The track construction between St. Louis and Chicago is going to be going on and on and on for years and years. I don't know why they can't do it in a better manner; most of the other corridors under construction have had less disruption.

 

[Railroad Bill]

According to the Illinois DOT high speed rail website:

The Illinios Department of Transportation (IDOT) is working to have infrastructure improvements in place to support speeds of up to 110mph on the Dwight-Alton portion of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor by the end of 2015.

 

[Nathanael]

According to the Illinois DOT high speed rail website:

The Illinios Department of Transportation (IDOT) is working to have infrastructure improvements in place to support speeds of up to 110mph on the Dwight-Alton portion of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor by the end of 2015.

Every year, they increase the year at the end of the sentence. Sometimes they also change the two cities listed before "portion".

 

[jis]

It seems to me that the CHI - STL HSR project has devolved into a bizarre cluster you know what, that is truly baffling and yet perhaps truly befitting of Illinois. :help:

 

[Partyman]

It seems to me that the CHI - STL HSR project has devolved into a bizarre cluster you know what, that is truly baffling and yet perhaps truly befitting of Illinois. :help:

As a resident of Illinois, I must say sir, that we resemble that remark.

 

[MARC Rider]

According to the Illinois DOT high speed rail website:

The Illinios Department of Transportation (IDOT) is working to have infrastructure improvements in place to support speeds of up to 110mph on the Dwight-Alton portion of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor by the end of 2015.

Every year, they increase the year at the end of the sentence. Sometimes they also change the two cities listed before "portion".

You know, I had a professor at college, and he taught us the Universal Law of Project Management:

Double all time estimates

Triple all cost estimates.

And, it should be noted, that before he entered the groves of academe, he worked for the private sector, specifically the petroleum industry, so this law is not restricted to allegedly "inefficient" government projects. Furthermore, he based it on his experience during the 1950s and 1960s. Given the economic, political, and legal changes that have occurred during the intervening decades, I suspect that the law is expressed today as

Quadruple all time estimates

Quintuple all cost estimates.

Smaller projects may not be quite as bad. Last summer we redid our kitchen, and we did have a cost overrun when they tore up the old floor tiles and discovered some rotted wood, but the cost was only increased by 5%. But they did take about twice as long as their initial time estimate.

 

[George Harris]

Some projects do take less time than estimated and come in at or under budget, but these are usually private sector, or small counties. For Illinois: How many governors recently have gone to prison? Crookedness seem to be part of most (all?) Illinois projects. For what they have spent already I would think they should have a 110 mph or 125 mph railroad from end to end. As it is, I do not think they have yet gotten to the speed achieved on the line when it was the 1950's GM&O owned Alton Route.

An irony here: The Alton Route, called by some the road of Lincoln, was one of the earliest example of a Yankee line coming under southern line ownership when it was taken over by the GM&O. The GM&O was the combination of the Gulf Mobile and Northern and the Mobile and Ohio, Ohio being the river, not the state. The M&O predated the War Between The States and came under control of the GM&N sometime in the 20's or 30's. The GM&N was a combination of several streaks of rust in West Tennessee and eastern Mississippi and western Alabama that were developed into a viable low density railroad system by Isaac Tigrett. The premier passenger trains were the Rebel on the GM&N, running Jackson TN to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Rebel running St. Louis to Mobile. Both were gone before 1960.