[LMich]

Another article on the speed-up on the Wolverine & Blue Water:

Feds give Amtrak permission to speed up trains between Detroit, Chicago

Matt Helms | Detroit Free Press

February 8, 2012

Faster Amtrak service between Detroit and Chicago got a big boost with federal approval for passenger rail to travel at up to 110 m.p.h. on part of the route, officials said Tuesday.

In fact, some passengers may have traveled that fast already without knowing it, at least for short distances, as the state and Amtrak tested safety systems in recent months.

Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation said the Federal Railroad Administration approved the higher speed limit on 80 miles of track in southwest Michigan and Indiana in an effort to shave travel time between the two cities -- likely about 30 minutes.

The track serves Amtrak's Wolverine line between Pontiac and Chicago through Detroit and Ann Arbor as well as the Blue Water line from Port Huron to Chicago through East Lansing.

Amtrak has been working for more than a decade to raise top speeds between Detroit and Chicago -- from 79 m.p.h. to 90 m.p.h. in 2002 and then to 95 m.p.h. in 2005. The agency said successful testing of safety systems on Amtrak-owned track between Kalamazoo and Porter, Ind., led the feds to approve the 110-m.p.h. speed.

The nation's fastest passenger train is the Acela Express, traveling up to 150 m.p.h. between Washington, D.C., and Boston.

On Feb. 15, Amtrak plans to release details about when the higher speeds will be in regular service.

...

Amtrak said success on the west Michigan portion of the tracks will help the state and Amtrak boost speeds to 110 m.p.h. on 135 miles of track between Kalamazoo and Dearborn that MDOT is buying from Norfolk Southern for $140 million. Negotiations could conclude this spring, said MDOT spokeswoman Janet Foran.

...