(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Jan Dennis on September 18.)
NORMAL, Ill. — With new safety gates and other improvements, 126 miles of track that stretches north from Springfield is ready to whisk passenger trains about 30 miles per hour faster than they now travel.
But more than a decade after Illinois set its sights on high-speed rail, trains are still chugging along at their usual 79 miles per hour, throttled as officials reevaluate new safety technology to ensure faster trains can coexist with freight trains and cars that cross over rail lines.
Some lament that trains aren’t already rolling faster to capitalize on rail demand that is on pace to break last year’s records across the state and nation, due in part to high gasoline prices and added airport security in the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks five years ago.
State officials say they’re anxious, too, but won’t ease off the brakes until they settle on one of the emerging systems designed to automatically slow down or stop trains to ease dangers that come with higher speeds.
“We’re more concerned with safety than the speed of delivery,” said Matt Vanover, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Along with curbing rail-crossing accidents, the high-tech systems ensure that faster-moving trains don’t slow freight deliveries that have set volume records the past few years using the same tracks, said Tom Brown, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.
“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.
Illinois is targeting the busy Chicago to St. Louis corridor – with nine stops from Alton to Summit – for its first foray into high-speed rail, most used in the United States in the densely populated eastern seaboard, from Washington to New York City to Boston.
Other states also are making inroads, including Michigan, where ridership has increased up to 12 percent on routes now running at 95 mph, said Marc Magliari, spokesman for Amtrak, which has set national ridership records for three straight years.
In Illinois, crossing signals have been upgraded all along the 280-mile route between Chicago and St. Louis, where faster trains are ultimately expected to cut the current 51/2-hour trip to less than four hours.
But only a stretch from Springfield to south of Joliet is now ready for high-speed travel, with upgraded track for a smoother ride and nearly 70 crossing gates equipped with nets and four arms instead of two to prevent drivers from trying to snake through ahead of trains.
No money has yet been earmarked for track and crossing upgrades between Springfield and St. Louis or from south of Joliet to Chicago – work that state officials estimate will push the total project cost to about $400 million.
Illinois could get help finishing off the improvements under a bill pending in Congress that would provide matching federal grants for rail projects, similar to federal road and aviation programs.
“That would be a major step … Right now, states are doing it all on their own,” Magliari said.
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Railroads, thinks the measure could pass, but wonders whether funding would follow with defense and other costs taxing the federal budget.
In the meantime, Illinois will continue its push toward high-speed rail while also working to enhance existing Amtrak service, Nekritz said.
This year, the state will double its Amtrak subsidy to $24 million, adding two more daily runs this fall between Chicago and St. Louis and one each on routes between Chicago and Carbondale and Chicago and Quincy.
Officials and riders say the extra trips are a key to making trains a popular alternative to driving and flying because people want to get where they’re going when they want to get there. Magliari said high-speed rail could ultimately add even more daily trips.
“You get more miles out of the train and its crews if they’re going back and forth faster. It frees up equipment and crews to run more often,” Magliari said.
That’s good news for Zarinah Thompson, a Springfield nurse who rides Amtrak every week for health care assignments along the Chicago to St. Louis corridor.
“It’d be great for me. You’ve got to get to work on time,” Thompson said last week while waiting to catch a train home from Normal.
Officials say they can’t predict how much ridership might rise with high-speed rail. But they say faster and more frequent trips, coupled with plans for new $25 million trains for the Chicago-to-St. Louis route, are sure to help.
“We’ve had significant ridership gains with our current Amtrak service, double digit on almost a monthly basis. I think we should see a significant gain with newer trains and shortening up trip times,” said George Weber, chief of IDOT’s passenger rail division.