Railway commuters traveling between St. Louis and Chicago, have yet to see faster rail journeys, despite most of Amtrak’s funds going towards a $1.95-billion upgrade.  Delays in installing and testing the new GPS-related safety technology, has kept Amtrak trains from hitting speeds up to 90-miles-per-hour during 2018.  The Illinois Department of Transportation originally projected that the trains would reach speeds as high as 90, but they are not allowed to travel faster than 79 on the route.  The Illinois agency projects that the 90-mph speeds will be in place for Amtrak, by this next summer from Alton to south of Springfield.  The Illinois Department of Transportation had originally stated that these trains would be able to reach speeds up to 110-miles-per-hour by 2019, but the agency has stopped offering predictions on when that will happen.  If traveling at 110-miles-per-hour on the train, that would have around an hour off of the typical 5 and ½ hour trip from St. Louis to Chicago.