Tadman wrote:Interesting this came up - today's WSJ notes that the frequency of airline departures out of Des Moines is seriously dropping, perhaps this is the time such a service could be successful. That said, the success is limited because you're limited to Chicago O&D traffic or transfers to MKE or Detroit, given the uselessness of IND runs and the geographic disadvantage of the STL run.
I was actually going to suggest almost the opposite - that if anything, Des Moines St. Louis might be a little better because it was more dogleg than two sides of a right triangle, and the driving routes aren't very well developed - you'd probably drive almost the same route the train takes. But I just don't think Des Moines- St Louis is a big travel routing for any mode.
I'll take this opportunity to mention that a moment ago, I looked down part of the routing in question (well, the route mentioned this week - Quad Cities-Champaign/Danville.) I'm on the Lincoln Service, and we just pulled out of the station in Normal. Which is one difficulty. The NS line connecting Peoria and Champaign runs through Bloomington, but the brand new intermodal station is in Normal. There is an old spur that seems to be shown on the Illinois Rail map, leading from the Champaign road to the Normal station, (it's most likely a remnant of an old line to Decatur), but I just saw several bicycles riding a trail there. It looks like the NS line crosses the Lincoln Service at a rail junction near the intersection of Washington and Morris in Bloomington, and there is some space there, possibly even an existing connection between the two lines (west and north are connected). But it's 3 miles from the station. That's a lot of backing on a busy passenger line.
On my way into Springfield early this afternoon, I waited 20 minutes a mile north of the stop while they gave a crippled northbound Texas Eagle a new locomotive. I mention it for those who say that the St. Louis-Chicago line isn't busy enough for one passenger train to cause trouble for another.