Scott Speegle of the Illinois Department of Transportation

On July 31^st Scott Speegle of the Illinois Department of Transportation spoke to at lunch meeting about the Chicago to St. Louis Illinois High-Speed Rail program. Scott is the Passenger Rail Marketing Manager for IDOT.  The program has now entered its fifth year and is scheduled for completion in 2017.  The program made significant accomplishments since its 2010 inception, including installing over 243 miles of new rail, 635,000 new concrete ties and 1,300,000 tons of stone ballast.  When the program is completed in 2017, the current Chicago to St. Louis travel time will be reduced from 5.5 hours to 4.5 hours.  The current top speed along the route is 79 mph, and will be increased to 110 mph upon completion.  Certain segments along the route have already been completed for 110mph high-speed testing, including the Dwight to Pontiac segment, and the Joliet to Carlinville segment. The program also includes purchase of many new rail cars and locomotives, many new or rebuilt stations, significant improvements to reliability and safety, and makes the route compliant with ADA access requirements.  Funding for the $1.53 billion program has come primarily from the federal government, but also from Union Pacific, Amtrak, the Illinois Commerce Commission, and other partners.  The high speed program does not include segments from Joliet to Chicago, from East St. Louis to St. Louis, or within Springfield or Normal, all of which will be addressed separately because of their unique urban settings.  More information about the program is available at www.idothsr.org, or from Scott at scott.speegle@illinois.gov.