Amtrak begins 110 mph service on part of Chicago to St. Louis route

{mosads}Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman called the trains “a major milestone in the development of our Chicago Hub network.

“Combined with our high-speed trains in Michigan, this means Amtrak now has a total of 14 daily trains to and from Chicago that operate at 110 mph,” Boardman said.

Amtrak’s current high-speed service, the Acela trains in the Northeast U.S., have a top speed of 150 miles per hour. However, trains on the railway currently run as slowly as 80 miles per hour in some places because the trains share tracks with Amtrak’s regular service, as will the Chicago-to-St. Louis trains.

Amtrak has told lawmakers it has a plan to increase the speed of its trains to 220 miles per hour by 2040, but Republicans in the House have derided the plan as unrealistic.