Amtrak Quad Cities Proposal Chicago, Moline, Iowa City

Just for the heck of it, what are the average speeds of the trains to/from S. Illinois, W. Quincy? St. Louis?

Interesting question. According to Amtrak's timetables:
Chicago to St. Louis = 284 miles/4.5 hours = 63 mph
Chicago to Quincy = 258 miles/4.5 hours = 57 mph
Chicago to Carbondale = 309 miles/5.5 hours = 56 mph

Also
Chicago to Milwaukee = 88 miles/1.5 hours = 58 mph
Chicago to Detroit = 281 miles/5.5 hours = 51 mph
Chicago to Indianapolis = 149 miles/5 hours = 30 mph

If I were in charge, I would want to increase the speeds of the Hoosier State first (sacrasm - the train with the worst speed). Just how slow is the Hoosier State? Amtrak's highest grade and twistest tracks are on the California Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City.
Denver to Salt Lake City = 570 miles/15 hours = 38 mph
Yes, the Hoosier State is very, very slow.

How much money has Amtrak or the FRA invested in speeding up Amtrak's slowest train? Zero! Just goes to show how slow all Amtrak's trains will be if we refuse to reinvest in our rail infrastructure. The freight railroads will be jumping with joy with 30 mph freight train speeds if that means they don't have to reinvest as much on their corridors.

Always important to remember the difference between maximum speed and average speed. Per Mapquest, the driving distance from Un. Sta. in Chicago to the university in Iowa City is 223.4 miles. If you could drive 65mph all the way, your max and avg speeds would be 65mph, and it would take 3:26. Let's say that you take one pit stop, and add in some time on account of traffic/speed limit delays--a total of maybe 30 mins. If you took 3:56 to cover this same distance, the avg. speed would drop to 56.7mph. I'd say that 53mph avg. speed for the train for the same route is quite competitive (granted that the Iowa City station won't be in the middle of the campus), given that the train will make a number of stops.

The mileage for Chicago to Galesburg is not accurate. IIRC, its 162 miles on the BNSF route.

Chicago to Galesburg should read 162 miles in 2hrs., 38 mins.

Works out to 61.5 mph.

steve4031 wrote:The mileage for Chicago to Galesburg is not accurate. IIRC, its 162 miles on the BNSF route.

162 miles to Galesburg via the CZ & SC in 2.38 hrs
359 miles to Osceola (Des Moines) in 6.09 hrs

The state run CS & IZ are closer to 3 hours with more stops

IIRC a quick win for cars could come when a few cars make the Cardinal daily from Chicago to the East, setting the 3 Hoosier State cars free for other duty

This could set up a parade of Amtrak trains on the Racetrack WB from 2:00 (CZ) 3:15 (SC) 5:55 (IZ)
CS is WB 7:35 am

With 2 trains could we see a "Morning Rocket" & a "Evening Rocket"?

Average time CS and IZ to Quincy is at about 57.6mph (4'38" and 4'28") And those two are doing well ridershipwise......so...eke out another 5mph on the Iowa City route. get it under 4hrs, and IIHO you'd have a winner.

GWoodle wrote:This could set up a parade of Amtrak trains on the Racetrack WB from 2:00 (CZ) 3:15 (SC) 5:55 (IZ)

Assuming we get 2 a day to Iowa City (or at least Moline), that will make 6 a day (CZ, SC, IZ, CS, + 2 new trains) in each direction from Chicago as far west as Princeton (no stop at Wyanet). Mr. Norman will have a lot of Amtraks to observe on his walks.

steve4031 wrote:The mileage for Chicago to Galesburg is not accurate. IIRC, its 162 miles on the BNSF route.

Sorry for the confusion. You're absolutely correct, the fault was entirely mine. Although I originally wrote Galesburg, I meant to answer the previous question, which was Quincy. I've edited my earlier reply with a simple change, inserting Quincy for Galesburg.

Station Aficionado wrote:

pebbleworm wrote:Funding has rolled in for service between Iowa City, IA, the Quad Cities and Chicago, with trains starting to run sometime in 2015!
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_c ... 03286.html

2015??!! How incompetent have we become? Five years to build, what, two stations (Moline and Geneseo), upgrade 60 miles or so of track and build one connection? Everything's already in place east of Wyanet, isn't it? I recognize that laying track is a lot more involved than it was in 1869 and that there are all manner of regulatory and statutory requirements to be met (haven't they already done the environmental impact study?), winter weather delays to be dealt with, and football games to be watched. But five years for a 60 mile extension is ridiculours. How does one maintain the political will for that long, given the current financial and ideological storms (see, e.g., Wisconsin and Ohio) buffeting the country? There's got to be a way to speed this project up. I pray you, tell me 2015 is the date for service to Iowa City, not Moline.

Well, since you pray for it, I'll tell you:
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_c ... 03286.html

2013 to the Quad Cities!

Interesting that they gave a different message than what Durbin had said two days earlier.

ne plus ultra wrote: Well, since you pray for it, I'll tell you:
http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_c ... 03286.html

2013 to the Quad Cities!

Interesting that they gave a different message than what Durbin had said two days earlier.

Amen! That's more like it (and with a little effort and some luck, they can probably shave a bit more time off).

electricron wrote:Nippon Sharyo building new railcar plant in Rochelle, Illinois. Will that make Nippon Sharyo the likely manufacture of Illinois subsidized high speed trains?

Nippon Sharyo has long had ties to the Chicagoland region-including the Metra gallery bilevels, Metra Electrics and NICTD/South Shore cars. I wouldn't be suprised if they remain the prime favorite for future RTA/CTA/NICTD orders.

With any luck, this Iowa City route will be extended to Des Moines and onward to Omaha. If that ever happens and track conditions are kept or made good, this routing could be a new routing for the California Zephyr as it would serve more significant population centers on the way through Iowa as opposed to the current southerly routing which is through low density areas.

RWERN wrote:With any luck, this Iowa City route will be extended to Des Moines and onward to Omaha. If that ever happens and track conditions are kept or made good, this routing could be a new routing for the California Zephyr as it would serve more significant population centers on the way through Iowa as opposed to the current southerly routing which is through low density areas.

Rather than getting extended to Des Moines and Omaha, the route may get cut back to Moline.

Lawmakers in Iowa are ready to balance the budget. Republican representatives have already unveiled their plan even though the new legislature hasn't even started.

http://www.kwqc.com/Global/story.asp?S=13784255
The Republicans in the Iowa House may also kill the Dubuque-Chicago line entirely.

Since the Chicago-Dubuque train is an Illinois project, I fail to see what the Iowa Republicans can do with it.

Can anyone give us an update on the planned Quad Cities service via IAIS at Wyanet?