Printer Friendly

Description

Major cities: Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland

Segment	Mileage	Top Speed (goal)	Travel Time (goal)
Eugene to Seattle	310	110 mph	2:30 hr
Seattle to Vancouver	156	110mph	2:50 hr

Accomplishments and Status.

Washington State took delivery of two custom built TALGO trains in late 1998 for use in the Eugene, Portland, to Seattle corridor and Amtrak began its Cascades service in January 1999. Amtrak later purchased two similar TALGO trains. In 2003, Washington State purchased a fifth TALGO trainset to meet the growing demand. The five sets of equipment (3 owned by Washington State, 2 owned by Amtrak) are used corridor wide. The trainsets are cycled between schedules (Eugene to Bellingham) and visit the Seattle shop every four days, except for the one trainset that's captive between Seattle and Vancouver, BC

In 1996 voters in the three metropolitan counties on the east side of Puget Sound approved the creation of a new regional transit agency, known as Sound Transit and provided local tax support for a multifaceted approach to meeting regional needs. Enhanced regional express bus service, light rail in Seattle and Tacoma and an 82 mile commuter rail line now link three counties between Everett and Lakewood, WA. Seattle-Everett environmental reviews have been completed and final engineering is underway. Several expansion projects in the Seattle-Tacoma area are underway.

Oregon has been collaborating with Washington State, Amtrak, and the freight railroads in upgrading service and facilities on the Pacific Northwest Corridor. For example, grants under the planning and preconstruction activities and Next Generation High-Speed Rail portions of the Swift Rail Act have funded signal and track work in the vicinity of Portland's Union Station, in order to improve travel times and capacity.

The FRA and the Federal Highway Administration jointly manage the Section 1103(c) grade crossing hazard elimination program in designated high-speed corridors. Since the program's beginning in 1993, $10,162,600 has been invested in reducing grade crossing hazards in the Pacific Northwest Corridor. Details on the grade crossing inventory in this corridor can be found HERE .

Outlook.

Seattle's King Street Station is being refurbished and construction of a train maintenance facility in Seattle is underway. Other station improvements are underway along the route. Voter-approved reductions in transportation taxes have necessitated a readjustment of Washington State's investment plans; trackage and facilities that are used by Sound Transit on the Seattle-Tacoma and Seattle-Everett portions will receive some $82 million of needed improvements. Funding for other portions of the line are being sought.

Oregon will continue its Amtrak services throughout the coming year but no service expansion is planned at this time.

Pacific Northwest Corridor Contacts
Organization	Personal Contact	Topics
Washington State Dept of Transportation Public Transportation and Rail Division P.O. Box 47387 Olympia, WA 98504-7387 www.wsdot.wa.gov/choices/train.cfm	Ken Uznanski Rail Passenger Program Manager Tel: 360-705-7905 Fax: 360-705-6821 uznanski@wsdot.wa.gov	Amtrak; Passenger rail; High speed rail; freight rail service; grade crossings; infrastructure improvements.
Oregon Dept of Transportation Rail Division 555 13th Street NE, Suite 3 Salem, OR 97301 www.odot.state.or.us/rail	Kelly Taylor Rail Division Administrator Tel: 503-986-4125 Fax: 503-986-3183 kelly.c.taylor@odot.state.or.us	Amtrak; Passenger rail; High speed rail.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) contacts for the Pacific Northwest HSR Corridor