Amtrak Cascades - Proposed Changes

Proposed Changes

According to its long-range plan, the WSDOT Rail Office plans eventual service of 13 daily round trips between Seattle and Portland and 4-6 round trips between Seattle and Bellingham, with four of those extending to Vancouver, BC. Amtrak Cascades travels along the entirety of the proposed Pacific Northwest High Speed Rail Corridor; the incremental improvements are designed to result in eventual higher speed service. According to WSDOT, the "hundreds of curves" in the current route and the cost of acquiring land and constructing a brand new route" make upgrades so cost-prohibitive that at most speeds of 110 mph (177 km/h) can be achieved.

The eventual high speed rail service is planned to result in the following travel times:

• Seattle to Portland – 3:30 (2006); 3:20 (2017, assuming completion of Point Defiance bypass); 2:30 (planned)
• Seattle to Vancouver BC – 3:55 (2006); 2:45 (planned)
• Vancouver BC to Portland – 7:55 (2009); 5:25 (planned)

In order to increase train speeds and frequency to meet these goals, a number of incremental track improvement projects must be completed. Gates and signals must be improved, some grade crossings must be separated, some track must be replaced or upgraded and station capacities must be increased. In order to extend the second daily Seattle to Bellingham round trip to Vancouver, BNSF was required to make track improvements in Canada, to which the government of British Columbia was asked to contribute financially. On March 1, 2007, an agreement between the province, Amtrak, and BNSF was reached, allowing a second daily train to and from Vancouver. The project involved the construction of an 11,000-foot (3.35 km) siding in Delta, BC at a cost of US$7 million; construction started in mid-2007 and now has been completed.

In December 2008, WSDOT published a mid-range plan detailing projects needed to achieve the midpoint level of service proposed in the long-range plan. WSDOT is applying for $900 million in high speed rail stimulus funds for projects discussed in the mid-range plan, since the corridor is one of the approved high speed corridors eligible for money from ARRA. Depending on federal grant awards, the timetable of any of the following projects may speed up.

Additionally, in summer 2009, Oregon applied for a $2.1 billion Federal grant to redevelop the unused Oregon Electric Railway tracks, parallel to the Cascades' route between Eugene and Portland, to enable more passenger trains and higher speeds. As of 2012, most of the projects have either started or completed, enabling more frequent, reliable service and faster speeds on the Cascades.