Fact Sheet: High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program: Chicago - St. Louis - Kansas City

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Click here to download PDF (whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/chicago-st louis-kansas city.PDF)

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Awardees : Illinois Department of Transportation, Missouri Department of Transportation

Total Approximate Funding (entire corridor) : $1,133,000,000

Benefiting States : Illinois, Missouri, Kansas

Miles of Track : Upgraded - 570 miles

The corridor connects Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO and Kansas City, MO. Currently, five daily round trips operate between Chicago and St. Louis and two daily round trips operate between St. Louis and Kansas City. Ultimately, the long-term vision for the corridor is to reach speeds of 110mph from Chicago to St. Louis to Kansas City, with up to eight daily round trips between Chicago and St. Louis.

Summary of Corridor Investments

Chicago - St. Louis: Using grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), improvements to this corridor will be made that allow passenger rail service from Chicago to St. Louis to operate at speeds of up to 110 mph. These higher speeds, coupled with improvements resulting in increased on-time performance, will decrease travel time from Chicago to St. Louis to approximately 4 hours, allowing customers to reach their destination 30 percent faster compared to current rail service, and 10 percent faster than driving between the two cities.

Improvements will be made to track, signal systems, and existing stations. e project will also fund the implementation of positive train control technology. Upgrades to rail cars will also play a signicant role in enhancing this service. Additionally, required environmental work to support future service enhancements will be funded.

St. Louis - Kansas City: Improvements on the St. Louis to Kansas City service are expected to provide sizable service reliability improvements; on-time performance on the route is projected to increase from 18 percent in 2008 to 85 percent in five years. Numerous construction projects, including the expansion of existing railroad bridges and universal crossovers, as well as improved grade crossings, will be funded on this segment.