The era of high-speed rail has arrived in Illinois.
Beginning June 26, Amtrak says it will be running trains at speeds up to 110 miles per hour on its Lincoln Service between Chicago and St. Louis.
That will make the trip up to 15 minutes faster than the current 90-mile-an-hour speed and 30 minutes faster than when the rail improvement project began when trains ran at 79 miles per hour on the corridor.
Union Pacific, which maintains those tracks, says Amtrak will be able to operate at the top speed along 80% of that corridor, excluding major metro areas and one area where the curvature of the track requires slower speeds.
Illinois has invested nearly $2 billion in improvements to tracks, crossings, and rail stations along the corridor.
