The Pacific Northwest will get a major infusion of federal stimulus cash to boost passenger rail service between Portland and Seattle. It’s part of a nationwide high-speed rail improvement plan President Barack Obama will highlight in a visit to Tampa, Fla., today.
Washington will get $590 million to make track improvements between Vancouver and Seattle, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray announced Wednesday evening. The money will include several sets of bypass tracks, as well as upgrades to existing tracks and signal systems, clearing the way for the state to boost Amtrak’s Cascades service.
“Anybody who travels the I-5 corridor in our state knows that we need to find new, efficient options to get commuters and commerce moving,” Murray said in a prepared statement. “And anybody interested in boosting our state’s economy knows that now is a great time to take action.”
Currently, Amtrak’s four daily Cascades trains schedule 3 hours, 15 minutes to make the trip from Vancouver to Seattle. Depending on traffic, motorists can drive from Vancouver to Seattle in less than three hours. Track improvements should narrow the gap. For example, a proposed $91 million project to bypass Point Defiance, near Tacoma, would save trains six minutes.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond today will announce specific projects funded by the stimulus award.
The state had proposed 26 projects valued at $1.3 billion, including $61 million worth of additional track upgrades in Vancouver.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood informed Murray of the grant awards on Wednesday, according to the senator’s office. The $787 billion federal stimulus bill, signed by President Obama almost a year ago, included almost $8 billion to develop high-speed rail corridors across the country.
The Obama administration subsequently identified 10 priority corridors across the country, including the Cascades route between Vancouver, B.C., and Eugene, Ore.
Washington and Oregon state transportation departments began working with Amtrak in 1994 to enhance passenger rail service along the corridor.
In 1999, the states put into service a series of low-slung Talgo passenger trains. The train sets employ tilt technology, enabling operators to more easily negotiate curves while maintaining passenger comfort. However, the current trackage does not allow the Talgos to operate at their maximum speed.
The Cascades service includes four daily round-trips between Portland and Seattle, not including the longer-haul Coast Starlight, which adds a daily train in each direction. Vancouver’s Amtrak station is also served by the east-west Empire Builder train that runs from Portland to Chicago.
