110 mph Amtrak service approved in Indiana, Michigan

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Updated: February 7, 2012 11:28PM

Good news for Amtrak riders in western Michigan and northern Indiana: you’ll be getting to your destinations a lot faster.

Amtrak and the Michigan Dept. of Transportation have received federal approval to increase maximum speeds of Amtrak trains in western Michigan and northern Indiana to 110 mph after successful installation and testing of a positive train control safety system on Amtrak-owned tracks between Kalamazooo, Mich., and Porter, Ind., a release from Amtrak said.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said some of the trains are already running at the faster speed, while all will be running by Feb. 15. There are eight daily trains affected, four heading each way, he said.

Amtrak says it’s the first expansion of regional high speed rail outside the Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor and an extension of the 110 mph service from Kalamazoo to the state’s central and eastern regions should be coming in the next few years.

Amtrak began raising speeds on this corridor from 79 mph in 2001 to 90 mph in 2002 and 95 mph in 2005, the release said.

Operating at 110 mph will shave 10 minutes from the 95 mph schedules and about 20 minutes from the 2001 schedules on the Amtrak-owned portion of the corridor, the release said.

The Amtrak Wolverine Service -- with three daily round-trips between Pontiac and Chicago via Detroit and Ann Arbor -- and the Amtrak Blue Water -- daily between Port Huron and Chicago via East Lansing -- use this corridor. The Amtrak Pere Marquette uses a different route in Michigan to Grand Rapids.

Amtrak and the Illinois Dept. of Transportation are partnering on similar plans on the Chicago-St. Louis corridor, where federal regulations also require the use of a train control safety technology, the release said.