Chicago to St Louis upgrade to 110 mph

When is 110 mph running starting on the Chicago to St Louis line?

Does it have PTC or cabsignal, if answer is no , its never gone happen.

"There are a lot of challenges that have to be met, including making sure it doesn't negatively affect freight. Jobs of millions depend on freight," said Brown, whose Washington-based group represents the nation's seven largest rail companies.

Officials say they can't even speculate on when trains might start running at 110 mph along the stretch of central Illinois track, where the state has sunk about $80 million into rail and crossing improvements since 1999 to pave the way for speedier travel.

"I think a timetable would be nothing more than a guess and I'm not much of a gambling man," said Jason Tai, IDOT's director of public and intermodal trains.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/high.speed ... 32247.html

It appears that the RR is taking all of the improvemts handed out, but is resisting operating passenger trains at speed.....

I've found a more recent article and it looks as if 2009 will be the start date.

Illinois has sunk about $80 million into track and crossing improvements over a decade, but has finished less than half of a planned high-speed route from Chicago to St. Louis that would shave 90 minutes off the current 5 1/2-hour train ride.

Completing the estimated $400 million project will take years, but is projected to boost ridership from 300,000 last year to 1.2 million, said George Weber, chief of the Illinois Department of Transportation's passenger rail division.

Weber said trains could begin running at 110 mph by 2009 on 120 miles of the 280-mile route after the state recently settled on safety technology that will ensure faster trains can coexist with cars and slow-moving freight traffic that shares the line.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles ... il/?page=2[/quote]

I assume the safety technology is PTC or Cab signal or speed will be max 79 mph till such type of signaling is applied.
Upgrading crossings and rail will not allow FRA to upgrade speeds, but upgrading the signal system will.
The cost of such is enormous since every locomotive used in lead on such territory must be equipped with the technology or the safety factor is just about nil.

I suggest that more info is needed. "Could" is this case may mean 'in the opinion of IDOT technically could", whether the FRA and the railroad are on board with this opinion we don't know.

Sounds to me that if this line isn't electrified, it can be an easy market for the JetTrain.

You will never see jet train in service, the cost of fuel is simply way to high.
No jet powered trains are used anywhere in world anymore.

time to bury the jet train .

How many fireghts use all of this line ? i was under the impression the part that had the trial ptc was fairly lightly used .

Given that Illinois has invested so much in track and crossing improvements, I hope they follow through on the cab signals for 110 mph operation. Trains were supposed to be running at 110 on the upgraded stretch about 4 or 5 years ago.

Unfortunately the contractors decided to use a brand-new, not-quite-like-anyone-else's cab signal and PTC system. They haven't managed to really get it working right. The "almost entirely off-the-shelf technology" signalling used by Amtrak on its Michigan line got going a lot faster, which really isn't surprising.

I can't imagine why they didn't apply the signalling being used on the Michigan line to the St. Louis line, but apparently they didn't.