Lincoln Service: Difference between revisions

In July 2010, the state of Illinois and the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] reached an agreement under which track speeds between [[Dwight, Illinois|Dwight]] and [[Alton, Illinois|Alton]], Illinois were to be raised to as high as {{convert|110|mph|km/h|0}}.<ref>{{cite web|date=July 21, 2010|title=Union Pacific, Illinois strike agreement on fast trains|url=http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=7120&r=rss|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120914170050/http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=7120&r=rss|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 14, 2012|access-date=December 8, 2021|publisher=Trains Magazine}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This speed will cut the travel time between Chicago and St. Louis by 90 minutes, bringing the trip to under four hours.<ref name=110mph/> 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|date=November 2015}}