Passenger Trains > Whither Illinois High Speed Rail?

Have any of you actually been to Illinois to see what's been done?  I have, and have reported on it twice here already. From the comments above I get the idea that all of you above are the usual TO gripers who love to be negative about anything and everything while simultaneously not really knowing the truth about anything - i.e. the "ignorant experts".

tcarl Wrote:
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> Have any of you actually been to Illinois to see
> what's been done?  I have, and have reported on
> it twice here already. From the comments above I
> get the idea that all of you above are the usual
> TO gripers who love to be negative about anything
> and everything while simultaneously not really
> knowing the truth about anything - i.e. the
> "ignorant experts".

I rode aboard the Texas Eagle from Chicago to Dallas and back a year ago.  From what I saw, the entire Chicago - St Louis route appeared to be ready for 110 mph operation, at least as far as the track is concerned.  I guess it's the signaling that's the long pole in the tent. 

A view out the back of the Eagle at 79 mph:

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/16 22:00 by hsr_fan.

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"In the next two and half years you are actually going to see 80 percent of Chicago-Detroit and roughly 80 percent of Chicago-St. Louis at sustained speeds of 110 miles per hour," said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Joseph Szabo.

When was this quote spoken?? February 15th, 2012...

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/transit/Amtrak-110mph-Ride-Chicago-139354913.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/02/amtrak_celebrates_speed_increa.html

So no train has EVER Gone 110 mph east of the Zoo and we have never had over 12 miles of 110 mph in Illinois. PERIOD!

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Video of Szabo making his quote...

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Yes some of has have been to Illinois to see what has been done.
In fact some of us live in Illinois.  I drive from the Chicago area to
Springfield at least once a year.  I marvel at all the track work the
taxpayers have funded for the benefit of the Union Pacific R.R.
I also marvel at the unwashed fixed consist Amtrak trains that I
see from I-55.  The only change to them over the years is that they
now have one unit instead of two.

I also look at my GM&O Oct., 1966 employee timetable to see that 
No. 1 took 5 hrs 33 min. from Chicago to St. Louis.  No. 3 made it
in 5 hrs 45 min.  Best current time is 5 hrs 20 min and that is just one
train.  The other high speed runs make it in 5hrs 30 min and 5 hrs 35 min.
Remember the GM&O had to pull past the St. Louis station and then back in
which added to the running time. Maybe another Billion $ will bring the running 
time down another few minutes.

As for creating jobs I remember the paving contractor who called into a local
radio station while the rebuild project was going on around Dwight.  The contractor
wanted to get some of the business repaving crossings, etc.  He said the amount
of paperwork necessary to get the jobs was prohibitive.

PC1974 Wrote:
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> Video of Szabo making his quote...

Did anyone else notice the appearance of a sinister figure for a millisecond at about the six second mark?
Is it the ghost of the Alton Route?