Amtrak's HIGHER SPEED Rail: Riding the Lincoln Service

[@Buc_Stops_Here]

Amtrak since the 1990s has had "higher" speed rail between Detroit and Chicago at a top speed for some (about half) the distance of 110 mph. It was actually a fairly quick trip as you cannot drive as fast as that train between the two cities.

[@SirKenchalot]

Acela goes 155mph through NJ and I love that Amtrak agreed with the wider public that if there's one state you'd rather not stop in and just want to get through as fast as humanly possible, it's New Jersey.

[@DOSBoxMom]

My husband and I rode the Lincoln Service/Missouri River Runner from Dwight, IL to Kansas City, MO round-trip last year. We were in older cars for both the south & west-bound trip in Business Class and the return journey in Coach. Business Class was fairly comfortable, although we weren't able to get 2 seats together until after Bloomington/Normal. Coach class the next day was much more cramped, with narrower seats and not nearly as much legroom (although I've heard that Coach class on airplanes is even worse). We got the recorded station stop messages on the southbound trip Dwight - St. Louis, but just announcements by the conductors otherwise (including some humorous trivia on the return journey N from St. Louis). I would highly recommend Business Class for older passengers, larger passengers, and those who would like the increased comfort, especially on longer rides.

[@robertscott4759]

I've heard the Illinois Central Railroad's locomotive engineers used to push the EMD E-units up to more than 110mph sometimes when they were running late with a passenger train. Back before the days of event recorders.

[@earlknightjr.1341]

They did that alot, back in the "day"!!:They'd make up time!! Those E'S ARE FASTER " MOTOR SCOOTERS" When they get to roll, over the 110mph!!! They could roll,baby!!! I loved those E'&F's when they got going!!! And when they idled they were a joy to hear!!!!!! Earl of ElBarrio, NYC,NY. 6/8/24

[@deepnation10009]

You did a great job! This made me feel happy. Lol!

[@spencer4732]

Well done video! I've always wanted to ride the Lincoln Service and get to experience the higher speed of the train. I frequently take the Missouri River Runner, the continuation of the Lincoln Service, between KC and STL. It's similar in speed to driving between the two cities but much more comfortable.

[@ck4426]

Really really enjoyed this trip report and hope you do many more!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!

[@Imillinois]

My house is a few blocks away from the railway diamond in bloomington il. I can literally hear the booms because of the diamond. If the booms are short its a amtrak if its long its a intermodel or a cargo train. Sometimes i even go to the constitution trail and go to the bridge. You could see a train going under. Just wanted to share. 😀

[@mariovieira838]

Actually there are other sections of higher speed running on the Amtrak system, the oldest being Hudson,NY to Albany -Rennselaer,NY to Hoffman's,NY on the Empire Corridor. The other line where 110 Mph is on Amtrak trackage in Michigan. As for the Acela, the 150 Mph top speed is reached in far more than 15 Miles. It is permitted in sections South and North of Providence,RI. South of New York, the trains can reach that top speed between 'County' Interlocking, imidestely after New Brunswick, and MP 54.0, wich is just before passing the Trenton station

[@ASAviation]

That’s correct. I didn’t say the Lincoln Service is the only higher speed route but I think the title was misleading that way, so I’ll change that a bit 😅 the Michigan and New York routes are very interesting. Also, I said 50 miles not 15 regarding the Acela.

[@tonyblack2731]

Thank you for this video.

[@anthonywarrener1881]

Thank you for this excellent video. I agree that the seats in the new Venture cars are very disappointing. The new leather seats in the refurbished Amfleet and Horizon cars are much more comfortable ! One can only hope Amtrak revises the seat specification with Siemens when the Venture cars are sent east for North East corridor service, and the Florida routes.

[@ggnore90]

The seats appear different in the Airo renderings. Remember that Amtrak Midwest is a state-supported system so the specifications for these specific Venture cars were up to Illinois and California (their Venture cars were of the same order). Meanwhile, Amtrak itself will be in charge of the Airo order.

[@anthonywarrener1881]

@@ggnore90 Very glad to hear this. !

[@szm-qf4lp]

Via Rail Canada's venture car has great seats with much more padding and better material than the Amtrak Midwest version

[@anthonywarrener1881]

@@szm-qf4lp Delighted to hear that !

[@PakistaniAvgeek]

Enjoyed the Video AS! I can relate to 12:20 me as a Avgeek my parents hate flying and they keep saying if only USA had high speed trains 😅 Personally me I don’t mind 🤫😂.

[@kassandrachavez1733]

Hello from Schaumburg IL

[@johnp139]

That’s annoying that slow long freight trains have the priority over fast short passenger trains. A freight train could easily wait 5 minutes rather than making a passenger train wait 20 minutes!

[@ASAviation]

100%, sadly freight companies don’t exercise such logic 😂

[@stickynorth]

The only time grade separations REALLY make sense are over blockages like freight yards and diamond intersections...

[@qjtvaddict]

Build dedicated tracks problem solved

[@chriswade7470]

Get rid of the flat crossings so train movements don’t conflict.

[@Hobinator17]

The problem is freight trains can have so many cars, the rail siding wont be long enough to contain the whole consist. So even though amtrak technically does have priority, they have no choice but to be the one who stops. Compounding the problem is amtraks abysmal on-time rating, which throws out any prior planned coordination between trains

[@mikeestwick3350]

This would have been nice when I was a student at Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan going between home and school!

[@parkerjon29]

I couldn't tell if you said the Acela only goes 150 for 15 miles or 50 miles. Its definitely more than 15 miles, as they increased speeds in NJ as well in addition to the RI/MA segment

[@ASAviation]

I did say 50 miles 😅

[@johnchambers8528]

I have ridden this line several times between Chicago and St. Louis. The higher speeds should make the remains more competitive compared to driving. It should also help in increasing ridership to some of the smaller stops along the route.

[@jeffreysmith85]

Don't forget the 100 car freight trains

[@JustMRT_aviation]

Hello AS aviation, really nice vid. I am eagerly waiting for the next Karachi update, since PIA may start flying to Europe as early as this month

[@JustMRT_aviation]

Actually l, it should be lifted today !

[@afcgeo882]

A little bit misleading. The Acela tops out at 150mph and the Northeast Regional service tops out at 125mph, which is technically high-speed as well.

[@airplanesforlife1260]

AS Aviation the goat

[@stickynorth]

Great video, new subscriber. To me North America shouldn't worry so much about building the most expensive and technically challenging of HSR lines (those which run at 200 MPH/320 KMH) but those which still run at 125 MPH/200 KMH which is as fast as the first generation of Japanese Shinkansen did back in the 1960's. At those speeds a whole new Interstate rail system could be constructed much faster and cheaper using existing Interstate ROW like Brightline West is doing OR existing mixed-traffic corridors/lines like Brightline East is doing. This would allow the most flexibility when it comes to building new or upgrading existing lines while allowing reasonable intercity express train services of all types from limited regional, full on express and even higher speed nighttrains if the network is long enough!

[@qjtvaddict]

Most lines in the USA are not technically challenging US is just that incompetent

[@connecticutmultimodaltrans8226]

My main issue with the Midwest services is frequency. Economies of scale are a huge factor for rail travel. Illinois spent way too much on this project to begin with, especially with the frequencies it offers. Each route needs over a dozen round trips.

[@jeffreysmith85]

Steam train were fast but you need great separation

[@eottoe2001]

This is wonderful because 110mph (177 kph) is a doable speed that doesn't require a lot of new infrastructure. The cars and engines are designed for it. Welded rail can handle it. The signaling needs to be updated, of course, but that should have happened 20 years ago anyway. There is a need for quad-gates. A train from Cincinnati to Cleveland is 2.27 hours or Pittsburgh to Cleveland (the long way) is 1.33 hours. There are a lot of places where the rail is flat as a board and there isn't a lot of need for earthwork. Keep in mind a lot of the EU and Japanese trains are going anywhere from 80 to 120 mph only and not 187mph (300 kph). An Acela train from Portland, OR to Vancouver, BC makes sense to make that kind of upgrade but in the Midwest, 110 to 120 is very achievable and would be more convenient instead of driving or taking a plane.

[@muhammadraza9163]

Nice

[@MirzaAhmed89]

4:32 no way. The old fabric seats were itchy and gathered dust.

[@jeffreysmith85]

We need access on the south side just like on the Northside

[@Blank00]

Hopefully the Venture cars are less bumpy and quieter than the Horizons

[@MirzaAhmed89]

Higher-speed rail, also known as "we're trying, okay?" rail.

[@Robbi496]

Actually, the Illinois Central went 90-100 mph until Amtrak.

[@qjtvaddict]

That route was?

[@packr72]

Amtrak did 100mph on the IC too, eventually speed was dropped to 90, then 79 once the IC deactivated the automatic train stop in the 80s.

[@jeffreysmith85]

Needed fences new gates

[@jeffreysmith85]

For now, will go to the rock

[@yagi3925]

If Amtrak or any other train company in North America wants to be successful, they have to drop this stupid "boarding" process. In Japan and Europe, with a few exceptions for a couple of HS services, anyone walks to the platform and accesses the train whenever he or she wants until departure time. That's how trains work. They're not planes.

[@jeffreysmith85]

No they 😊 have party in the great hall

[@SWITCHMASHER]

Until slamtrak can have high speed track of it's own, it will never happen. The owners of the track do not want Amtrak, ridership keeps falling, the service is lousy, equipment falling apart. The government should just stop throwing money away and let it slip into history.

[@michaeluhlemann4964]

Ridership on the Lincoln Service has actually been increasing since the pandemic.

[@samtrak1204]

New trains dirty like all the rest.

[@jeffreysmith85]

Amtrak train as should proiritized

[@joshuaoliger8665]

First

[@airplanesforlife1260]

gg

[@jeffreysmith85]

I like amfleet better

[@johnweber6612]

ten years of work, over a billion dollars spent to save an hour off of a 8 hour door to door trip for a couple of hundred people each day, nonsense

[@editoron]

No it's not

[@MostHigh777]

I'm a big friend of Amtrak and also of rail travel but this thread simply underlines the problems in the US which continued to be unaddressed. You're never going to have decent rail service until you have dedicated track for the rail service. There are two reasons for this the first being that the freight trains hold up the passenger trains. The second is that the freight trains rip up the track thereby restricting the speed at which the passenger trains can operate. The only way out of this conundrum is simply to lay passenger dedicated track which will be expensive but ultimately necessary. I've heard good things about the new Siemens cars except they are very fierce complaints about the inferior seats. That's going to have to be addressed otherwise it's going to be a big handicap getting people to use the train instead of flying or driving in their car.