Lincoln Service
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The ''Lincoln Service'' is a
higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe Inter-city rail, inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of m ...
service operated by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
that runs between
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
and
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. The train is a part of the ''
Illinois Service The ''Illinois Service'', branded Amtrak Illinois, comprises three passenger rail routes operated by Amtrak in the American state of Illinois. The ''Illinois Service'' is funded primarily by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Chi ...
'' and is partially funded by the
Illinois Department of Transportation The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is a state agency in charge of state-maintained public roadways of the U.S. state of Illinois. In addition, IDOT provides funding for rail, public transit and airport projects and administers fuel ...
. The train uses the same route as the long-distance ''
Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''. Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...
'', which continues to and . A connection with the -bound ''
Missouri River Runner The ''Missouri River Runner'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak between Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis and Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. The eastern half of the route runs largely along the right bank of th ...
'' is available in St. Louis. , the average trip time between Chicago and St. Louis was 5 hours 17 minutes. Future infrastructure upgrades are expected to reduce the time to under 4 hours. During
fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
2016 (ending September '16), the ''Lincoln Service'' trains carried 548,955 passengers, a decrease of 4.8% from FY2015. The service had a total revenue of $14,266,964, a decrease of 1.3% from FY2015.


History

Prior to the ''Lincoln Service'', Amtrak had been operating the '' State House'' between Chicago and St. Louis since 1973. Originally intended to connect Chicago and
Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...
, Amtrak extended the ''State House'' south to St. Louis at its own expense because Springfield station was not designed to turn equipment. The train used a route previously owned by the
Alton Railroad The Alton Railroad was the final name of a railroad linking Chicago to Alton, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri. Its predecessor, the Chicago and Alton Railroad , was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1931 an ...
, which merged with the
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two pa ...
(GM&O) in 1947. The GM&O merged with the
Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...
in 1972, a year after Amtrak had taken over passenger train service. As a result of upgrades on the line between Chicago and St. Louis, Amtrak rebranded the ''State House'' as the ''Lincoln Service'' on October 30, 2006, with two additional round trips. This resulted in the Chicago-St. Louis corridor being served by five daily round trips, including the ''Texas Eagle'' and ''
Ann Rutledge Ann Mayes Rutledge (January 7, 1813 – August 25, 1835) was allegedly Abraham Lincoln's first love. Early life Born near Henderson, Kentucky, Ann Mayes Rutledge was the third of 10 children born to Mary Ann Miller Rutledge and James Rutledge ...
'' which terminated beyond St. Louis. From April 2007 the ''Ann Rutledge'' operated only between Kansas City and St. Louis where it connected once daily to the Lincoln Service. The ''Ann Rutledge'' was folded into the ''
Missouri River Runner The ''Missouri River Runner'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak between Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis and Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. The eastern half of the route runs largely along the right bank of th ...
'' in 2009; one ''Lincoln Service'' round trip per day still connects with the ''Missouri River Runner.'' In July 2010, the state of Illinois and the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
reached an agreement under which track speeds between
Dwight Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer *New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors * ...
and
Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...
, Illinois were to be raised to as high as . This speed will cut the travel time between Chicago and St. Louis by 90 minutes, bringing the trip to under four hours. The first track upgrade construction was planned to be between Alton and
Lincoln, Illinois Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. First settled in the 1830s, it is the only town in the United States that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. Lincoln is ho ...
and was projected to cost $98 million. The construction on this stretch began on September 17, 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 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...
. 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 Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate Dem ...
suggested the Dwight–Alton upgrades would create some 900 jobs, while the overall project could generate 24,000. On March 22, 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 April 5, 2011. 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 A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...
and signal improvements before the full service can be fully operated on this route. After all required improvements on the first segment between Dwight and
Pontiac, Illinois Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,931 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Livingston County. The town is also the setting of the 1984 movie ''Grandview, U.S.A.'' Geography Location P ...
were completed, Amtrak started the
higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe Inter-city rail, inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of m ...
service with top speeds of on that segment in November 2012, with the entire section between Alton and Joliet expected to have operation by 2017. The slowest portion of the corridor is the segment between Chicago and Joliet, but improving this would require an additional $1.5 billion investment. Two projects proposed from the
Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program is a $4.6 billion program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of freight, commuter and intercity passenger rail and to reduce highway delay in the Chicago regio ...
(CREATE) would remove two
diamond crossing A double junction is a railway junction where a double-track railway splits into two double track lines. Usually, one line is the main line and carries traffic through the junction at normal speed, while the other track is a branch line that ca ...
s and construct an
overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...
to increase train speed and eliminate delays. One project is in the preliminary design phase while the proposed flyover at Brighton Park crossing is unfunded. As of 2022, an alternative solution rerouting trains via the
Rock Island District The Rock Island District (RI) is a Metra commuter rail line from Chicago, Illinois, southwest to Joliet, Illinois, Joliet. Metra does not refer to its lines by color, but the timetable accents for the Rock Island District line are "Rocket Red" i ...
, which bypasses these diamond crossings and has relatively few freight trains, is being considered. This option would reduce delays and allow higher speeds between Joliet and Chicago. Effective July 7, 2021, ''Lincoln Service'' and ''Texas Eagle'' trains were allowed a top speed of after Federal Railroad Administration dual certification of the Incremental Train Control System and Interoperable Electronic Train Management System between south of
Joliet Union Station Joliet Union Station was a train station in Joliet, Illinois that served Amtrak long-distance and Metra commuter trains. It was replaced by the new Joliet Transportation Center in 2018, a train station that was constructed adjacent to the Union ...
and Alton, Illinois. On December 13, 2021, scheduled travel times were reduced by approximately 15 minutes between St. Louis and Chicago as a result of the increased speeds. Around May 2022, Amtrak began through-routing one round trip of the ''Missouri River Runner'' and ''Lincoln Service'', creating a Kansas City–Chicago round trip.


Train

A ''Lincoln Service'' train consists of the following: *One or two Siemens SC-44 locomotives *Three to seven
Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An in ...
,
Horizon Fleet The Horizon is a type of single-level intercity railroad Passenger car (rail), passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak ordered the cars to supplement their existing fleet of Amfleet, Amfleet ...
, or
Venture Venture may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 *"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes *''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR Games * ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade gam ...
coaches *One Amfleet or Horizon Fleet cafe/business car


Ridership


Route and station stops

The
Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. I ...
''
Heritage Corridor The Heritage Corridor (HC) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its southwestern suburbs, terminating in Joliet, Illinois. While Metra does not refer to its lines by colors, the Heritage Corridor appears on Metra timetables as ...
'' commuter line uses the same route from Joliet to Union Station. One ''Lincoln Service'' round trip per day connects with the St. Louis-Kansas City ''
Missouri River Runner The ''Missouri River Runner'' is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak between Gateway Transportation Center in St. Louis and Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. The eastern half of the route runs largely along the right bank of th ...
,'' providing through service between Chicago and Kansas City. Additionally, one southbound ''Lincoln Service'' runs express to St. Louis via Joliet, Bloomington-Normal, Springfield and Alton.


See also

*''
Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...
''


References


Notes


External links

* {{Higher speed rail Amtrak routes Higher-speed rail Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Missouri