Lincoln Service

Lincoln Service

A Lincoln Service departs Chicago in May 2009. Directly behind is the Sears Tower (now Willis).
Overview
Service type Higher-speed rail
Locale Midwest United States
Predecessor State House
First service 2006
Current operator(s) Amtrak
Ridership

1,796 average daily
655,465 total (FY13)[1]

633,531 (FY14)[2]
Route
Start Chicago, Illinois
Stops 9
End St. Louis, Missouri
Distance travelled 284 miles (457 km)
Average journey time 5 hours, 30 minutes[3]
Service frequency Four round-trips daily
Train number(s) 300-307
On-board services
Class(es) Business class and reserved coach
Catering facilities On-board café
Technical
Rolling stock Horizon Fleet coaches
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed Up to 110 miles per hour (180 km/h)
Track owner(s) CN, UP, NS, KCS, TRRA

The Lincoln Service is a 284-mile (457 km) higher-speed rail service operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The train is a part of the Illinois Service and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The train uses the same tracks as Amtrak's Texas Eagle.

The Lincoln Service is a re-branding of the former State House route.[4] The train route was originally run by the Alton Railroad, which merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad (GM&O) in 1947. By the time the GM&O merged with the Illinois Central Railroad in 1972, Amtrak had taken over passenger service.

During fiscal year 2013, the Lincoln Service trains carried nearly 655,465 passengers, an increase of 9.7% from FY2012. The service had a total revenue of $16,382,439, an increase of 22.7% from FY2012.[1]

In March, 2013 the travel time from Chicago to St. Louis was 5 hours 30 minutes -- 35 minutes slower than the Illinois Central Railroad operated its express trains over the same route during the 1930s.[5]

Upgrades

As a result of continuing upgrades on the line between Chicago and St. Louis, two additional trains daily began running on 30 October 2006, for a total of five trains daily, including the Texas Eagle and Ann Rutledge which terminated beyond St. Louis, along with the rebranding of the State House service as part of the Lincoln Service. From April 2007 the Ann Rutledge operated only between Kansas City and St. Louis where it connected to the Lincoln Service trains; Amtrak discontinued the name altogether in 2009.[6]

In July 2010, the state of Illinois and the Union Pacific Railroad reached an agreement under which track speeds between Dwight and Alton, Illinois were to be raised to as high as 110 miles per hour (180 km/h).[7] This speed will cut the travel time between Chicago and St. Louis by 90 minutes, bringing the trip to under four hours.[8] The first track upgrade construction was planned to be between Alton and Lincoln, Illinois and was projected to cost $98 million. The construction on this stretch began on 17 September 2010 in Alton and was completed in 2011. Most of the funding came from $1.1 billion in stimulus money for Illinois high-speed rail from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The remainder of this grant, as well as $400 million in funding from the state of Illinois, was used to complete a high-speed rail corridor for the remaining portions of the St. Louis–Chicago track. Senator Dick Durbin suggested the Dwight–Alton upgrades would create some 900 jobs, while the overall project could generate 24,000.

On 22 March 2011, an announcement was made in Chicago that an additional $685 million would be used to upgrade trackage and grade crossings between Dwight and Lincoln. Construction on the improvement project began on 5 April 2011.[9]

Although much of track upgrade work was completed between 2010 and 2012, there are additional constructions including second trackage, bridge replacement and rehabilitation, drainage improvements, and grade crossings and signal improvements before the full 110-mile-per-hour (180 km/h) service can be fully operated on this route. After the completion of all required improvements on the first 15-mile (24 km) segment between Dwight and Pontiac, Illinois was completed, Amtrak started the higher-speed rail service with top speeds of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) on that segment in November 2012. The entire section between Alton and Joliet is expected to have 110-mile-per-hour (180 km/h) operation by 2017.[8][10]

The slowest portion of the corridor is the segment between Chicago and Joliet, but improving this would require an additional $1.5 billion investment.[11]

Train

A Lincoln Service train consists of the following:[12]

Ridership

Traffic by Fiscal Year
Passenger volume Change over previous year
2007[13] 408,807
2008[13] 476,427 Increase16.54%
2009[13] 506,235 Increase6.26%
2010[14] 572,424 Increase13.07%
2011[14] 549,465 Decrease4.01%
2012[1] 597,519 Increase8.75%
2013[1] 655,465 Increase9.70%
2014[15] 633,531 Decrease3.35%

Route and station stops

The Metra Heritage Corridor commuter line uses the same route from Joliet to Union Station.

Geographic map of route
State Town/City Station Connections
IllinoisChicagoChicago Union Station (CHI)Amtrak: Blue Water, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, California Zephyr, Carl Sandburg, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service, Hoosier State, Illini, Illinois Zephyr, Lake Shore Limited, Pere Marquette, Saluki, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Wolverine, Thruway Motorcoach
CTA Buses: 1, 7, 14, 19, 20, X20, X28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192
Megabus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7
Metra: North Central Service, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor, SouthWest Service
SummitSummit Amtrak station (SMT)Metra: Heritage Corridor
Pace: 330
JolietJoliet Union Station (JOL)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
Metra: Heritage Corridor, Rock Island District Line
Pace: 501, 504, 505, 507, 508, 509, 511, 832, 834
DwightDwight Amtrak station (DWI)none
PontiacPontiac Amtrak station (PON)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
NormalBloomington-Normal station (BNL)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
Burlington Trailways: Indianapolis, IN - Burlington
BNPTS: E, H
LincolnLincoln Amtrak station (LCN)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
SpringfieldSpringfield Amtrak station (SPI)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
SMTD
CarlinvilleCarlinville Amtrak station (CRV)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
AltonAlton Amtrak station (ALN)Amtrak: Texas Eagle
Madison County Transit: Route 11 (Weekdays only)
MissouriSt. LouisGateway Multimodal Transportation Center (STL)Amtrak: Missouri River Runner, Texas Eagle
MetroLink: Red Line and Blue Line
MetroBus: 4, 8, 10, 11, 32, 74, 80, 94, 99, 36X, 40X, 58X, 410X, 174X
Madison County Transit: 1X, 3X, 12X, 14X, 16X, 18X

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lincoln Service.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/730/658/FY13-Record-Ridership-ATK-13-122.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df3/df11032014d.pdf
  3. ↑ "Amtrak - Reservations - Fare Finder". Tickets.amtrak.com. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  4. ↑ which was named in recognition of the train's passing through Illinois' capital, Springfield
  5. ↑ http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track4/grndiamond193809.html, From the pages of the Official Guide, The Green Diamond, Illinois Central Railroad, June, 1938
  6. ↑ "Governor Blagojevich Announces Amtrak Lincoln Service to Start Running October 30th" (Press release). Amtrak. 2006-10-14. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  7. ↑ "Union Pacific, Illinois strike agreement on fast trains". Trains Magazine. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  8. 1 2 "110 mph train service starts on part of Chicago-St. Louis route". Crain's Chicago Business. Associated Press. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  9. ↑ "Second phase of high-speed rail expected to begin April 5". Bloomington Pantagraph. 22 March 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
  10. ↑ "Construction Location". Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  11. ↑ "Improving portion of high-speed rail corridor could cost $1.5 billion". Chicago Tribune.
  12. ↑ "LINCOLN SERVICE". TrainWeb. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 http://trn.trains.com/~/media/import/files/pdf/9/4/d/ridership-revenue_fy09.pdf
  14. 1 2 http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/968/399/ATK-11-133%20Record%20FY11%20Ridership%20and%20Revenue.pdf
  15. ↑ http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df3/df11032014d.pdf
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