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The Lincoln Service is a 284-mile (457 km) higher-speed rail service operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The train is a part of the Illinois Service and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The train uses the same route as the long-distance Texas Eagle, which continues to San Antonio and Los Angeles. A connection with the Kansas City-bound Missouri River Runner is available in St. Louis.

Lincoln Service

A Lincoln Service train departs Chicago in May 2009
Overview
Service type	Higher-speed rail
Status	Operating
Locale	Midwest United States
Predecessor	State House, Loop
First service	October 30, 2006
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Annual ridership	261,160 (FY21) −58.4%[1][lower-alpha 1]
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois St. Louis, Missouri
Stops	9
Distance travelled	284 miles (457 km)
Average journey time	5 hours, 17 minutes[2]
Service frequency	Four round-trips daily
Train number(s)	300–307
On-board services
Class(es)	Coach Class Business Class
Catering facilities	Café
Baggage facilities	Overhead racks
Technical
Rolling stock	Horizon Siemens Venture Siemens Charger
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	Up to 90 miles per hour (140 km/h)[3]
Track owner(s)	CN, UP, NS, KCS, TRRA
Route map Legend 0 mi Chicago 12 mi 19 km Summit 37 mi 60 km Joliet 74 mi 119 km Dwight 92 mi 148 km Pontiac 124 mi 200 km Normal 156 mi 251 km Lincoln 185 mi 298 km Springfield 224 mi 360 km Carlinville 257 mi 414 km Alton Illinois Missouri Mississippi River 284 mi 457 km St. Louis This diagram: view talk edit

As of December 2021^[update], 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 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.[4]

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, 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, which merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad (GM&O) in 1947. The GM&O merged with the Illinois Central Railroad 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 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.[5] The Ann Rutledge was folded into the Missouri River Runner 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 reached an agreement under which track speeds between Dwight and Alton, Illinois were to be raised to as high as 110 miles per hour (177 km/h).[6] This speed will cut the travel time between Chicago and St. Louis by 90 minutes, bringing the trip to under four hours.[7] The first track upgrade construction was planned to be between Alton and Lincoln, Illinois 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 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 suggested the Dwight–Alton upgrades would create some 900 jobs, while the overall project could generate 24,000.^{[citation needed]}

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.[8]

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 and signal improvements before the full 110-mile-per-hour (177 km/h) service can be fully operated on this route. After all required improvements on the first 15-mile (24 km) segment between Dwight and Pontiac, Illinois were completed, Amtrak started the higher-speed rail service with top speeds of 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) on that segment in November 2012, with the entire section between Alton and Joliet expected to have 110-mile-per-hour (177 km/h) operation by 2017.[7][9]

The slowest portion of the corridor is the segment between Chicago and Joliet, but improving this would require an additional $1.5 billion investment.[10] Two projects proposed from the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) would remove two diamond crossings and construct an overpass 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.[11][12]

Effective July 7, 2021, Lincoln Service and Texas Eagle trains were allowed a top speed of 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) after Federal Railroad Administration dual certification of the Incremental Train Control System and Interoperable Electronic Train Management System between south of Joliet Union Station and Alton, Illinois. [13] 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.[14]

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.[15]

Train

A Lincoln Service train consists of the following:[16]

• One or two Siemens SC-44 locomotives
• Three to seven Amfleet, Horizon Fleet, or Venture coaches
• One Amfleet or Horizon Fleet cafe/business car

Ridership

Traffic by Fiscal Year (Oct.–Sept.)

	Passenger volume	Change over previous year
2007[17]	408,807
2008[17]	476,427	016.54%
2009[17]	506,235	06.26%
2010[18]	572,424	013.07%
2011[18]	549,465	04.01%
2012[19]	597,519	08.75%
2013[19]	655,465	09.70%
2014[20]	633,531	03.35%
2015[21]	576,705	09.00%
2016[22]	548,955	04.80%
2017[23]	590,497	07.90%
2018[24]	586,166	00.73%
2019[25]	627,599	7.10%
2020[26]	334,540	044.9%
2021[27]	261,160	021.9%

Route and station stops

The Metra Heritage Corridor commuter line uses the same route from Joliet to Union Station.

State	Town/City	Station	Connections
IL	Chicago	Chicago Union Station	Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Amtrak (intercity): Blue Water, Hiawatha, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Pere Marquette, Wolverine Metra: ■ BNSF, ■ Milwaukee District North, ■ Milwaukee District West, ■ North Central Service, ■ Heritage Corridor, ■ SouthWest Service Chicago "L": Blue (at Clinton), Brown Orange Pink Purple (at Quincy) CTA Bus: 1, 7, J14, 19, 28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192 Pace Bus: 755 Plainfield–IMD–West Loop Express Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach, Megabus, Greyhound
	Summit	Summit	Metra: ■ Heritage Corridor Pace Bus: 330
	Joliet	Joliet Transportation Center	Amtrak: Texas Eagle Metra: ■ Heritage Corridor, ■ Rock Island Pace Bus: 501, 504, 505, 507, 508, 509, 511, 832, 834
	Dwight	Dwight
	Pontiac	Pontiac	Amtrak: Texas Eagle
	Normal	Bloomington-Normal	Amtrak: Texas Eagle Connect Transit: Green, Red/Exp, Lime, Brown, Tan, Pink, Yellow, Redbird Express Burlington Trailways: Indianapolis, IN - Burlington
	Lincoln	Lincoln	Amtrak: Texas Eagle
	Springfield	Springfield	Amtrak: Texas Eagle SMTD: 4, 7, 12, 903
	Carlinville	Carlinville	Amtrak: Texas Eagle
	Alton	Alton	Amtrak: Texas Eagle Madison County Transit: Route 11
MO	St. Louis	Gateway Transportation Center	Amtrak: Missouri River Runner, Texas Eagle MetroLink: Red Blue (at Civic Center) MetroBus: 4, 8, 10, 11, 32, 74, 80, 94, 99, 36X, 40X, 58X, 410X, 174X Madison County Transit: 1X, 3X, 12X, 14X, 16X, 18X Greyhound Lines, Burlington Trailways, Megabus, Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach

One Lincoln Service round trip per day connects with the St. Louis-Kansas City Missouri River Runner, 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

References

Notes

External links

• Illinois Services – Amtrak

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