Amtrak Cascades
Encyclopedia
The Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak
in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon
in the Pacific Northwest
of the United States
and the province of British Columbia
in Canada
. It is named after the Cascade mountain range
that the route parallels.
The corridor runs 156 miles (251.1 km) from Vancouver
, British Columbia
south to Seattle, Washington, continuing 310 miles (498.9 km) south via Portland, Oregon
to Eugene, Oregon
. Two daily trains travel to and from Vancouver, with Seattle or Portland as its starting or ending point; supplemental Thruway Motorcoach service connects travelers from Vancouver, BC
to trains heading south from Seattle, as well as providing additional service between Portland and Eugene, and connections to other Amtrak Thruway destinations in Washington and Oregon. The second daily service between Seattle and Vancouver, BC started on August 19, 2009. As of March 2010, four trains run daily between Seattle and Portland, with two of those providing service to Eugene.
Cascades is Amtrak's eighth-busiest route, and it carries the most passengers of any of the railroad's services outside of the Northeastern U.S.
or California
. Total ridership for 2010 was 836,499. During FY 2010, the service had a total revenue of $27,564,069, a 31.6% increase from FY 2009's total of $20,944,809. Farebox recovery for the train has also increased from 48% in 2008 to 72% in 2010.
When Amtrak started in 1971, there were three trains running between Seattle and Portland; the connection to Vancouver was discontinued upon Amtrak's founding. These three trains were unnamed at first, but with the advent of Amtrak's first "official" timetable in November 1971, one became the Coast Starlight
(which continued south to Los Angeles
), while the other two became the Mount Rainier and Puget Sound.
1972 brought the return of the Vancouver service, with the inauguration of the Pacific International. It always was a small train, though for a time it had one of the most unusual consists in the Amtrak system, carrying one of the few observation cars that Amtrak operated.
The corridor grew in 1980 with the State of Oregon financially subsidizing two daily round trips between Portland and Eugene. Named the Willamette Valley
, these trains were discontinued in April 1982. This was on the heels of the Pacific International's discontinuance in September 1981.
By the 1990s, the Portland-Seattle corridor was on shaky ground, with only a single round trip supplementing the Coast Starlight. But, with a change in attitudes toward Amtrak, in 1993 Oregon and Washington Cascades service began with a single daily round trip between Seattle and Portland. A second train was added in 1994 and in 1995, the Vancouver connection was brought back (originally called the Mount Baker International), along with Oregon providing assistance to extend one train to Eugene again. The corridor grew with a third Seattle-Portland train in 1998, and a second train to Eugene in 2000.
In 2004 the Rail Plus program began, allowing cross-ticketing between Sound Transit
's Sounder commuter rail
and Amtrak north from Seattle to Everett.
The corridor has continued to grow in recent years, with another Portland-Seattle train arriving in 2006, and the long-awaited through service between Vancouver and Portland, eliminating the need to transfer in Seattle, beginning in August 2009 as a pilot project to determine whether a train permanently operating on the route would be feasible.
With the Canadian federal government requesting Amtrak to pay for border control costs for the second daily train, the train was scheduled to be discontinued on 31 October 2010. However, Washington State and Canadian officials held discussions in an attempt to continue the service, which resulted in the Canadian government waiving the fee permanently.
Total ridership for 2008 was 774,421, the highest annual ridership since inception of the service in 1993. Ridership declined in 2009 to 740,154 but rose 13% in fiscal year 2010 to 836,499 riders.
The Amtrak Cascades is painted in a special scheme. The train is normally operated in a push-pull
configuration with an EMD F59PHI at one end, a 12 or 13 car Talgo
-built rake, and an unpowered EMD F40PH
locomotive called a Non-Powered Control Unit (NPCU) on the other end used as a cab car. The NPCU contains a cement weight to meet FRA
weight requirements for collision safety as well as regulations for crash safety for the Talgo cars, which are not FRA crash-rated.
Most of the Talgo sets are serviced in Seattle, but major repairs are done in Los Angeles' Amtrak 8th St. Coach Yard and the Redondo Junction. On some occasions, you can see a Cascades engine on the Coast Starlight heading down to LA.
The NPCUs in Cascades service are different from those Amtrak has converted in the past. Earlier versions, operating in several other Amtrak corridors, are sometimes called “cabbage cars
” because they serve as both a cab control car and a baggage car. In "cabbage cars", the engine of the locomotive is removed and the empty space is utilized as baggage space, with roll-up baggage doors in the carbody sides. The Cascades NPCUs have some baggage room features, but since the Talgo sets include a baggage car, the NPCUs in Cascades service retain their original engine-access doors. Unusually, the Talgo baggage cars feature hooks for roll-on bicycle transport; most other Amtrak services require bicycles to be boxed.
This stripped locomotive still contains controls in the cab so it can be used as a cab control car when the train is going northbound, and the powered F59PHI becomes a pusher from the rear. When traveling south the train is operated from the cab of the powered F59PHI. The NPCUs have five-digit numbers (i.e., #90253) rather than the powered F59PHI’s three-digit numbers. Each NPCU's number directly corresponds to its number when it had its prime mover, in that the previous number had the prefix 90- added to it when the F40PH was de-motored. The F59PHI's assigned to Cascades service are numbers 465-470. In rare occasions, either there will be two powered locomotives on each side or their will be no control unit at the other end of the train.
The passenger cars themselves are produced by Talgo
, the only cars by that company in operation in the United States. These cars are designed to passively tilt
into curves, allowing the train to pass through them at higher speeds. Despite a maximum design speed of 124 mph (200 km/h), current track and safety requirements limit the train's speed to 79 mph (127 km/h), although future plans for the Cascades route may allow them to operate at up to 110 mph (176 km/h).
The Talgo trainset is articulated
– each passenger car in the Talgo set shares a single pair of wheels with the next, such that they cannot be uncoupled without lifting one car onto a support. This design can also reduce jackknife
in a derailment.
A typical train consists of a baggage car
; two business-class coaches; one lounge
/dining car
; one cafe car
(also known as the Bistro car); six standard coaches; and one service car.
Four of the five trainsets are named after a mountain in the Cascade Range: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams
, and Mt. Hood. The last set is named after Mt. Olympus
, in the Olympic Range.
One of the five sets currently in service, the Mt. Adams set was originally built as a demonstrator and for potential service between Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. This was built with two additional standard coaches, for a total of 14 cars. It operated on the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. run for several years in its original configuration. It was also originally painted in a different color scheme, using blue, black and silver instead of the green, brown and cream found on the other sets.
A six-car spare set, including a baggage car, service car, lounge-dining car, cafe car and two standard coaches, was also built. The two additional coaches from the fifth trainset and the two coaches from the spare set were placed in service on four of the other sets, resulting in four 13-car trains and one 12-car train.
Fins on the baggage and service cars serve only as an aesthetic transition from the high top of the American-built locomotives to the roof of the low-slung European-designed passenger cars.
During the Thanksgiving (U.S.) holiday period in late November, extra Cascades trains are operated. These normally use conventional single-level coaches and cafe cars from the Amtrak fleet, but can also use bi-level Superliner
cars if they are available. When a Talgo set is out of service for maintenance or repair, a train of conventional cars is substituted, usually on the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. train, leaving the available Talgo sets for the services between Bellingham and Eugene.
In August 2007, a problem involving a crack in a suspension arm assembly between two cars of a Talgo trainset resulted in Amtrak and Washington DOT temporarily pulling all the sets from service. The agencies replaced them with standard single-level Amfleet
- and Horizon
-series coaches and buffet cars.
Because the conventional rolling stock did not have the tilting features found on the Talgo sets, runs were lengthened by 30 minutes, resulting in four-hour schedules between Seattle and Portland. Amtrak returned the remaining sets to service over several weeks starting in late September 2007, with the final set returning around October 21. Amtrak resumed its regular Cascades service pattern with its October 29, 2007 Fall schedule change.
and Washington, with Union Station in Portland
serving as the dividing point between the two. As of July 1, 2006, Washington state has funded four daily round trips between Seattle and Portland. Washington also funds two daily round trips between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. Oregon funds two daily round trips between Eugene and Portland. The five trainsets are organized into semi-regular operating cycles, but no particular train always has one route.
The Cascades service also benefits from Sound Transit's track upgrades for Sounder service, notably the upcoming Point Defiance Bypass project.
; 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 miles per hour (49.2 m/s) can be achieved.
The eventual high speed rail service is planned to result in the following travel times:
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.
.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is named after the Cascade mountain range
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
that the route parallels.
The corridor runs 156 miles (251.1 km) from Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
south to Seattle, Washington, continuing 310 miles (498.9 km) south via Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
to Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
. Two daily trains travel to and from Vancouver, with Seattle or Portland as its starting or ending point; supplemental Thruway Motorcoach service connects travelers from Vancouver, BC
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
to trains heading south from Seattle, as well as providing additional service between Portland and Eugene, and connections to other Amtrak Thruway destinations in Washington and Oregon. The second daily service between Seattle and Vancouver, BC started on August 19, 2009. As of March 2010, four trains run daily between Seattle and Portland, with two of those providing service to Eugene.
Cascades is Amtrak's eighth-busiest route, and it carries the most passengers of any of the railroad's services outside of the Northeastern U.S.
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
or California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Total ridership for 2010 was 836,499. During FY 2010, the service had a total revenue of $27,564,069, a 31.6% increase from FY 2009's total of $20,944,809. Farebox recovery for the train has also increased from 48% in 2008 to 72% in 2010.
History
The Amtrak Cascades route is an outgrowth of the original routes between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC. Originally operated as a joint partnership by the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Union Pacific, this route has evolved to become one of Amtrak's most popular.When Amtrak started in 1971, there were three trains running between Seattle and Portland; the connection to Vancouver was discontinued upon Amtrak's founding. These three trains were unnamed at first, but with the advent of Amtrak's first "official" timetable in November 1971, one became the Coast Starlight
Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
(which continued south to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
), while the other two became the Mount Rainier and Puget Sound.
1972 brought the return of the Vancouver service, with the inauguration of the Pacific International. It always was a small train, though for a time it had one of the most unusual consists in the Amtrak system, carrying one of the few observation cars that Amtrak operated.
The corridor grew in 1980 with the State of Oregon financially subsidizing two daily round trips between Portland and Eugene. Named the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley (train)
The Willamette Valley was a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Portland, Oregon and Eugene, Oregon. The name came from the Willamette Valley region which the train ran through. Amtrak introduced the train on August 3, 1980 with support from the state of Oregon...
, these trains were discontinued in April 1982. This was on the heels of the Pacific International's discontinuance in September 1981.
By the 1990s, the Portland-Seattle corridor was on shaky ground, with only a single round trip supplementing the Coast Starlight. But, with a change in attitudes toward Amtrak, in 1993 Oregon and Washington Cascades service began with a single daily round trip between Seattle and Portland. A second train was added in 1994 and in 1995, the Vancouver connection was brought back (originally called the Mount Baker International), along with Oregon providing assistance to extend one train to Eugene again. The corridor grew with a third Seattle-Portland train in 1998, and a second train to Eugene in 2000.
In 2004 the Rail Plus program began, allowing cross-ticketing between Sound Transit
Sound Transit
Sound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since September 19, 1999. It was formed in 1996 by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils...
's Sounder commuter rail
Sounder Commuter Rail
Sounder commuter rail is a regional rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Tacoma. As of 2011, schedules serve the traditional peak commutes, with most trains running...
and Amtrak north from Seattle to Everett.
The corridor has continued to grow in recent years, with another Portland-Seattle train arriving in 2006, and the long-awaited through service between Vancouver and Portland, eliminating the need to transfer in Seattle, beginning in August 2009 as a pilot project to determine whether a train permanently operating on the route would be feasible.
With the Canadian federal government requesting Amtrak to pay for border control costs for the second daily train, the train was scheduled to be discontinued on 31 October 2010. However, Washington State and Canadian officials held discussions in an attempt to continue the service, which resulted in the Canadian government waiving the fee permanently.
Total ridership for 2008 was 774,421, the highest annual ridership since inception of the service in 1993. Ridership declined in 2009 to 740,154 but rose 13% in fiscal year 2010 to 836,499 riders.
Equipment
Push-pull train
Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...
configuration with an EMD F59PHI at one end, a 12 or 13 car Talgo
Talgo
Talgo is a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles. It is best known for a design of articulated railway passenger cars in which the wheels are mounted in pairs, but not joined by an axle, and being between rather than underneath the individual coaches...
-built rake, and an unpowered EMD F40PH
EMD F40PH
-Amtrak NPCU Conversions:In later years, as Amtrak's F40PH fleet was being replaced by the newer GE Genesis-series locomotives, Amtrak converted a number of the retired units—generally ones with major mechanical problems limiting their value in the resale or lease marketplace—into "Non-Power...
locomotive called a Non-Powered Control Unit (NPCU) on the other end used as a cab car. The NPCU contains a cement weight to meet FRA
Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation. The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966...
weight requirements for collision safety as well as regulations for crash safety for the Talgo cars, which are not FRA crash-rated.
Most of the Talgo sets are serviced in Seattle, but major repairs are done in Los Angeles' Amtrak 8th St. Coach Yard and the Redondo Junction. On some occasions, you can see a Cascades engine on the Coast Starlight heading down to LA.
The NPCUs in Cascades service are different from those Amtrak has converted in the past. Earlier versions, operating in several other Amtrak corridors, are sometimes called “cabbage cars
Control car (rail)
A control car is a generic term for a non-powered railroad vehicle that can control operation of a train from the end opposite to the position of the locomotive...
” because they serve as both a cab control car and a baggage car. In "cabbage cars", the engine of the locomotive is removed and the empty space is utilized as baggage space, with roll-up baggage doors in the carbody sides. The Cascades NPCUs have some baggage room features, but since the Talgo sets include a baggage car, the NPCUs in Cascades service retain their original engine-access doors. Unusually, the Talgo baggage cars feature hooks for roll-on bicycle transport; most other Amtrak services require bicycles to be boxed.
This stripped locomotive still contains controls in the cab so it can be used as a cab control car when the train is going northbound, and the powered F59PHI becomes a pusher from the rear. When traveling south the train is operated from the cab of the powered F59PHI. The NPCUs have five-digit numbers (i.e., #90253) rather than the powered F59PHI’s three-digit numbers. Each NPCU's number directly corresponds to its number when it had its prime mover, in that the previous number had the prefix 90- added to it when the F40PH was de-motored. The F59PHI's assigned to Cascades service are numbers 465-470. In rare occasions, either there will be two powered locomotives on each side or their will be no control unit at the other end of the train.
Talgo
Talgo is a Spanish manufacturer of railway vehicles. It is best known for a design of articulated railway passenger cars in which the wheels are mounted in pairs, but not joined by an axle, and being between rather than underneath the individual coaches...
, the only cars by that company in operation in the United States. These cars are designed to passively tilt
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
into curves, allowing the train to pass through them at higher speeds. Despite a maximum design speed of 124 mph (200 km/h), current track and safety requirements limit the train's speed to 79 mph (127 km/h), although future plans for the Cascades route may allow them to operate at up to 110 mph (176 km/h).
The Talgo trainset is articulated
Articulated vehicle
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivoting joint in its construction, allowing the vehicle to turn more sharply. There are many kinds of articulated vehicles, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains...
– each passenger car in the Talgo set shares a single pair of wheels with the next, such that they cannot be uncoupled without lifting one car onto a support. This design can also reduce jackknife
Jackknifing
Jackknifing means the folding of an articulated vehicle such that it resembles the acute angle of a folding pocket knife. If a vehicle towing a trailer skids, the trailer can push it from behind until it spins round and faces backwards. This may be caused by equipment failure, improper braking, or...
in a derailment.
Baggage car
A baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
; two business-class coaches; one lounge
Lounge car
A lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
/dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
; one cafe car
Bar car
A bar car is a train car that has as its primary purpose the provision and consumption of alcoholic and other beverages.-In the United States:Bar cars were common during the heyday of U.S. rail travel prior to World War II...
(also known as the Bistro car); six standard coaches; and one service car.
Four of the five trainsets are named after a mountain in the Cascade Range: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams
Mount Adams (Washington)
Mount Adams is a potentially activestratovolcano in the Cascade Range and the second-highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington.Adams is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and is one of the arc's largest volcanoes,...
, and Mt. Hood. The last set is named after Mt. Olympus
Mount Olympus (Washington)
Mount Olympus is the tallest and most prominent mountain in the Olympic Mountains of western Washington state. Located on the Olympic Peninsula, it is the central feature of Olympic National Park. Mount Olympus is the highest summit of the Olympic Mountains, however, peaks such as Mount Constance,...
, in the Olympic Range.
One of the five sets currently in service, the Mt. Adams set was originally built as a demonstrator and for potential service between Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. This was built with two additional standard coaches, for a total of 14 cars. It operated on the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. run for several years in its original configuration. It was also originally painted in a different color scheme, using blue, black and silver instead of the green, brown and cream found on the other sets.
A six-car spare set, including a baggage car, service car, lounge-dining car, cafe car and two standard coaches, was also built. The two additional coaches from the fifth trainset and the two coaches from the spare set were placed in service on four of the other sets, resulting in four 13-car trains and one 12-car train.
Fins on the baggage and service cars serve only as an aesthetic transition from the high top of the American-built locomotives to the roof of the low-slung European-designed passenger cars.
During the Thanksgiving (U.S.) holiday period in late November, extra Cascades trains are operated. These normally use conventional single-level coaches and cafe cars from the Amtrak fleet, but can also use bi-level Superliner
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...
cars if they are available. When a Talgo set is out of service for maintenance or repair, a train of conventional cars is substituted, usually on the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. train, leaving the available Talgo sets for the services between Bellingham and Eugene.
In August 2007, a problem involving a crack in a suspension arm assembly between two cars of a Talgo trainset resulted in Amtrak and Washington DOT temporarily pulling all the sets from service. The agencies replaced them with standard single-level Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...
- and Horizon
Horizon (railcar)
Amtrak's Horizon Fleet are rail cars based upon the Comet II commuter coach design. The coaches were built by Bombardier Transportation in Barre, Vermont in 1989.-Car design:...
-series coaches and buffet cars.
Because the conventional rolling stock did not have the tilting features found on the Talgo sets, runs were lengthened by 30 minutes, resulting in four-hour schedules between Seattle and Portland. Amtrak returned the remaining sets to service over several weeks starting in late September 2007, with the final set returning around October 21. Amtrak resumed its regular Cascades service pattern with its October 29, 2007 Fall schedule change.
Funding
Funding for the route is provided separately by the states of OregonOregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington, with Union Station in Portland
Union Station (Portland)
Union Station is a train station near the west shore of the Willamette River in the Old Town Chinatown section of Portland, Oregon, United States....
serving as the dividing point between the two. As of July 1, 2006, Washington state has funded four daily round trips between Seattle and Portland. Washington also funds two daily round trips between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. Oregon funds two daily round trips between Eugene and Portland. The five trainsets are organized into semi-regular operating cycles, but no particular train always has one route.
Local partnerships
As a result of Cascades service being jointly funded by the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation, public transit agencies and local municipalities can offer a variety of discounts, including companion ticket coupons.- FlexPass and University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
UPass holders receive a 15% discount (discount code varies) on all regular Cascades travel. Employers participating in these programs may also receive a limited number of free companion ticket coupons for distribution to employees. - The Sound TransitSound TransitSound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since September 19, 1999. It was formed in 1996 by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils...
RailPlus program allows riders to use weekday Cascades trains between Everett and Seattle with the SounderSounder Commuter RailSounder commuter rail is a regional rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Tacoma. As of 2011, schedules serve the traditional peak commutes, with most trains running...
commuter rail fare structure.
The Cascades service also benefits from Sound Transit's track upgrades for Sounder service, notably the upcoming Point Defiance Bypass project.
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 CorridorPacific Northwest Corridor
The Pacific Northwest Corridor or the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor is one of eleven federally designated high-speed rail corridors in the United States. The corridor extends from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia via Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington...
; 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 miles per hour (49.2 m/s) 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
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
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
Oregon Electric Railway
The Oregon Electric Railway was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene. Service from Portland to Salem, Oregon, began in 1907. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchased the system in 1910, and extended service to Eugene in 1912...
tracks, parallel to the Cascades' route between Eugene and Portland, to enable more passenger trains and higher speeds.
Swift Customs Facility
- Adds a sidingRail sidingA siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
to allow freight trains to move off the mainline for Customs inspections; increases reliability for Vancouver to Seattle trains. - Construction began in July 2008 and was completed in October 2009.
Bellingham Waterfront Redevelopment Project
- Relocates 0.75 miles (1.2 km) of BNSF track to avoid the current sharp curve.
- Would increase passenger train speeds above 30 mph.
- Not yet fully funded.
- Construction is scheduled in the 2009-2011 biennium.
Mt. Vernon siding upgrade
- Adds a sidingRail sidingA siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
to allow southbound trains from Bellingham to pass northbound trains from Seattle; allows for earlier southbound departure. - Closes the grade crossing at Hickox Road.
- Construction began in March 2005; siding upgrade is completed but siding extension is delayed until 2008.
Stanwood siding upgrade/repair
- Lengthens and repairs sidingRail sidingA siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
to ensure freight trains are accommodated; increases reliability for Vancouver and Bellingham to Seattle trains. - Construction began in February 2008 with and is now completed.
Everett PA Junction and Delta Yard Realignment
- Realigns sharp curves to increase passenger train speeds from 30 mph to 50 mph, resulting in a two minute time savings to Bellingham and Vancouver.
- Upgrades warning and crossing equipment to improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles at Pacific/Chestnut crossing and Railroad Avenue crossing.
- Construction is delayed.
King Street Station track improvements
- Allows more trains to access the station at one time.
- Prevents passenger trains traveling between the service yard and the station from having to cross the mainlines.
- Construction began in October 2006 with expected completion of phase 2 in early 2012.
Seattle to Portland projects
With these three projects, WSDOT projects to have an additional two round trips added daily between Portland and Seattle.Point Defiance Bypass
- Partnership with Sound TransitSound TransitSound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since September 19, 1999. It was formed in 1996 by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils...
to bypass BNSF RailwayBNSF RailwayThe BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
Puget Sound shore track for an alignment between TacomaTacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
at the north end and the Nisqually RiverNisqually RiverThe Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southwest of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of Puget Sound....
at the south. - Increases train speeds in this corridor with a straighter track alignment.
- Eliminates the need for Cascades trains to use the single-track Nelson Bennett Tunnel
- First phase decreases travel time through the corridor by 6 minutes; second phase decreases travel time by at least another 5 minutes.
- Sound Transit construction was originally scheduled to be completed by 2012, after feasibility studies, design work and acquisition of land began in 2005. The first phase of construction began in June 2009; by that time the completion date had been pushed back to 2019. In 2010, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided additional funding for the project, enough to bring the completion date forward to 2016.
Kelso-Martin's Bluff rail project
- Constructs new sidings totaling 10 miles (16.1 km) between KelsoKelso, WashingtonKelso is a city in southwest Washington State, United States, and is the county seat of Cowlitz County. At the 2010 census, the population was 11,925. Kelso is part of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 102,410. Kelso shares its long western border...
and Martin's Bluff, Washington, near WoodlandWoodland, WashingtonWoodland is a city in Clark and Cowlitz counties in the U.S. state of Washington. Most residents live within Cowlitz County, in which the majority of the city lies. It is part of the 'Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area'...
. - The project will cost $199 million, and was funded by a grant as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grant was announced in 2010, but was not assured until an agreement between the state, the Federal Railroad AdministrationFederal Railroad AdministrationThe Federal Railroad Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation. The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966...
and BNSF was reached in late February 2011. - Construction is scheduled to begin around 2013 with a required completion date by 2017 under the terms of the federal grant.
Vancouver Rail Project
- Constructs a double-tracked bypass alignment to decrease freight congestion and to increase passenger train reliability.
- Constructs a crossing over the tracks at W. 39th St, increasing vehicle and pedestrian safety (Completed).
- Construction began mid-2009 with an anticipated completion date in 2013.
High-speed crossovers
These projects allow trains to switch mainlines at higher speed, reducing time lost when passing another train.- Titlow (Tacoma) – completed in 2005
- Centennial (Lacey) – completed in 2007
- Tenino - completed in 2009
- Chehalis – construction expected to begin in 2014 with completion in 2015
- Newaukum – construction expected to begin in 2014 with completion in 2015
- Winlock – completed in 2007
Grade separations
These projects remove a crossing by creating either a rail or road bridge, allowing for higher train speeds and the best possible crossing safety.- S. Lander Street (Seattle)
- Royal Brougham SR 519 Phase 2 (Seattle) This project has already been completed in 2010.
- S. 212th Street (Kent)
- Willis Street (Kent)
Ridership statistics
Data from the Washington State Department of TransportationWashington State Department of Transportation
The Washington State Department of Transportation , was established in 1905. The agency, led by a Secretary and overseen by the Governor, is a Washington governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of the state's transportation infrastructure...
.
| Year | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ridership | 94,061 | 180,209 | 286,656 | 304,566 | 349,761 | 425,138 | 452,334 | 530,218 | 560,381 | 584,346 | |
| YoY Diff. | N/A | 86,148 | 106,447 | 17,910 | 45,195 | 75,377 | 27,196 | 77,884 | 30,163 | 23,965 | |
| YoY Diff. % | N/A | 91.6% | 59.1% | 6.2% | 14.8% | 21.6% | 6.4% | 17.2% | 5.7% | 4.3% | |
| Year | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Ridership | 589,743 | 603,059 | 636,092 | 629,996 | 676,765 | 774,531 | 761,610 | 838,251 | |||
| YoY Diff. | 5,397 | 13,316 | 33,033 | -6,096 | 46,769 | 97,766 | -12,921 | 76,641 | |||
| YoY Diff. % | 0.1% | 2.3% | 5.5% | -1.0% | 7.4% | 14.4% | -1.7% | 10.1% | |||
External links
- Amtrak - Amtrak Cascades (Amtrak official site)
- Amtrak Cascades (Amtrak Cascades official site)
- Amtrak Cascades Train Equipment (Washington State Department of Transportation)