Amtrak Cascades achieved that high water mark despite needing to suspend rail service for two weeks in March while it pulled aging Horizon trains cars out of service. For now, the Cascades fleet is operating with Amfleet I cars pulled in from the Northeast. Amfleet I cars are also nearing retirement age, but in mid-2026 Amtrak is planning to begin rolling out its new Airo trainsets, which will upgrade capacity and service quality.

Considering the boost from new and improved Airo trainsets, Amtrak Cascades could easily chug across the million-ride milestone in the next fiscal year. That would put the line in select company among Amtrak’s routes and start to give the popular Capitol Corridor route in California (between Sacramento and the Bay Area) a run for its money.

As it stands, six Amtrak services attracted more than 1 million rides over the last year. Amtrak Cascades is the seventh busiest service, and the nearest to joining the million club. The top two services for ridership are effectively the same corridor: Acela runs the same route as Northeast Regional, but with faster trains and fewer stops.

The Cascades line wasn’t the only service forced to pull Horizon train cars out of service, but it did account for 26 of the 70 cars. Service on the Downeaster, Hiawatha, and Borealis lines were also affected. The Hiawatha and Downeaster both saw ridership drops that were likely related to the disruption.

The Borealis, as a new service between Saint Paul, Minnesota and Chicago launched midway through 2024, did not have high baseline to disrupt. In fact, it led all lines with 140% growth, surpassing 212,000 boardings. The long-distance Empire Builder (from Seattle or Portland to Chicago) saw a 6% drop in ridership, logging 364,495 rides over the fiscal year. Some of its eastern ridership may have cannibalized by the Borealis.

Ridership on the Cascades likely remained high in large part due to the two extra runs that were added between Seattle and Portland in 2023, bringing the total number of runs between Stumptown and the Emerald City to 12, along with the two runs on the Coast Starlight down to California.

Systemwide, Amtrak said that it has increased network capacity by 4.3% “despite the challenges of an aging fleet.”

“These results show what’s possible when we lead with purpose,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said in a statement. “By prioritizing reliability and the customer experience, we’re laying the foundation for the next generation of passenger rail in America.”

Along with ridership records, Amtrak also set ticket revenue records, pulling in $2.7 billion, which is 10.4% higher year-over-year. Overall, operating revenue was up 9.1%, and Amtrak said it expects to turn an operating profit by 2028.

Capital investments increased, too, hitting a record $5.5 billion – up nearly 25% year-over-year. Many of those dollars are due to the 2021 Infrastructure Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA), passed under President Joe Biden and set to expire next fall.

On the other hand, the Trump administration is also seeking to claw back billions in grant funding for a key Amtrak Gateway rail tunnel in New York City, which would leave Northeast rail service with a huge pinch point and the liability of an aging tunnel under the Hudson River. Trump has claimed he has terminated the project, but it’s not clear if the Department of Transportation is on the same page.

Among the major projects that did receive funding was Seattle’s new $300 million expansion of its SoDo rail yard, which will help maintain its growing Airo fleet in the future.

“This includes $1.1 billion for track, catenary, signal, and structural maintenance, plus progress on major bridge, tunnel and station projects like the Portal North Bridge, Connecticut River Bridge, East River Tunnel, and William H. Gray, III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia,” Amtrak wrote. “Rail yard upgrades to support the new Airo fleet advanced in Seattle and along the East Coast. Station modernization and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance efforts, which included more than $182 million invested in FY25 alone, continued nationwide—making rail travel more accessible to millions.”

State support is also boosting service on many of Amtrak’s most popular lines.

Washington State lawmakers have charted a path to double Amtrak Cascades service, but it’s not yet clear if they intend to actually fund that expansion. Their goal-setting legislation aims to cut the trip time from Seattle to Portland to 2.75 hours or less and to boost service to 14 daily trips with 88% on-time performance by 2035. The goal for trip time service north to Vancouver is 3 hours and 20 minutes. The speed goals would be about 25% faster than existing service, and the reliability targets would be a huge upgrade.

The new Airo trains are faster and built to top out at 125 miles per hour, though most Cascades trackage cannot accommodate such speeds without further upgrades. Such improvements would need to be negotiated with BNSF, the freight rail company that owns the route. Current federal regulations cap speeds at 79 miles per hour on most of the Cascades corridor.

Several leaders across Cascadia have been pushing for more dramatic upgrades by building a brand new bullet train corridor to link the Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver metropolitan areas. Government officials and business leaders organized under the Cascadia Innovation Corridor are pushing a plan that could cut the trip from Seattle to Portland or Vancouver, BC to just one hour.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has conducted preliminary studies on the “ultra high-speed rail” concept, and is working on a service development plan it aims to complete by 2028.

While ambitious and holding the potential to attract huge ridership by competing with airline service, high-speed rail will be a very costly undertaking. Plus, permitting and constructing such a complex project would take a long time, particularly if Cascadia was to run into similar hurdles that have hampered California high speed rail.

Given the risks, obstacles, and opportunity costs, some rail groups have pushed state leaders to keep their primary focus on upgrading Amtrak Cascades service for now. Bill Moyer, leader of Solutionary Rail, has even painted the bullet train plan as “the very definition of a boondoggle” that should be bypassed entirely.

Pursuing a Cascadia bullet train does not necessarily need to be mutually exclusive with goals to upgrade Amtrak Cascades service by 2035. It appears highly unlikely that a bullet train would be ready to begin operating by then, but Amtrak’s record-setting figures show ridership demand is sky high here and now.

The post Amtrak Breaks Ridership Records Nationally and in Pacific Northwest first appeared on The Urbanist.

The new trains include a suite of features intended to increase passenger comfort and accessibility and will be welcome replacements for Cascades riders. This spring, the majority of the Cascades fleet was pulled from service after the discovery of widespread corrosion within the aging Horizons cars, with older Amfleet I cars dispatched cross-country to fill in. While all of the seven daily round trips on the Cascades schedule were quickly restored, the smaller trains mean passenger capacity has been more constrained than before.

Along with a fully revamped cafe car, the Airo trains come with more ergonomic seats, dedicated power outlets, USB-C charging ports, and adjustable cup holders. New or improved accessibility features include integrated boarding equipment and inductive hearing technology to assist with onboard announcements. The restrooms on trains will come with touchless controls to improve sanitation.

Cascades riders have been clamoring for the new trainsets ever since Amtrak revealed preview renderings in 2022, as the manufacturer — Siemens — ramped up work.

The $7.3 billion national purchase order for new Amtrak trains was largely funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). That federal cash infusion also funded nearly $300 million in upgrades to Amtrak’s SoDo rail yard, just south Seattle’s King Street Station — a project that the incoming Trump Administration tried to take credit for with a new sign along a SoDo street. When complete, the new maintenance facility will handle the new Airo trains, and will be able to accommodate future expansion of the Cascades fleet.

While the new cars will provide significantly improved fuel efficiency, the Airo cars are not expected to dramatically improve travel times, with most of the current Cascades corridor limited to 79 miles per hour under current federal regulations — partly a reaction to a deadly 2017 derailment during the maiden voyage under a higher speed limit. Despite the fact that the new Siemens trains can achieve a top speed of 125 mph, that’s unlikely to be realized without significant track improvements, which would have to be negotiated with BNSF, which owns much of the right-of-way.

Having to negotiate with BSNF for use of the corridor remains a main reason that Amtrak Cascades boasts incredibly poor performance when it comes to staying on time. The most recent performance report released by WSDOT, from 2024, showed on-time performance had once again slipped below the 50% mark after a brief increase to 55% in 2023.

Earlier this year, the Washington State Legislature signaled an interest in exploring upgrades to the Amtrak Cascades routes, with the passage of House Bill 1837. Signed by Governor Bob Ferguson in May, that law sets an on-time performance benchmark of 88% and a goal of providing 14 daily round trips between Seattle and Portland, double the current number. Goals to improve train speed, however, were removed from the bill after concerns were raised by Republican lawmakers about creating an unfunded mandate.

Despite the relatively ambitious targets, the state likely won’t achieve its vision for Amtrak Cascades without federal help, and there’s considerable doubt about future federal funding levels for Amtrak. Earlier this month, a U.S. Senate committee approved an appropriations bill that included a 35% cut to freight and passenger rail compared to the amount authorized in the BIL. Congress is beginning to weigh a sequel to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but the momentum — at least under Republican leadership — seems to be away from rail investments.

As that debate plays out, the new Airo trainsets are coming, and Cascades riders will be able to tout riding them before railfans in other areas of the country. Whether a foretaste of a feast to come or crumbs before a famine, their arrival on Pacific Northwest tracks will mark the beginning of a new era.

The post Sneak Peek: New Airo Trains Coming to Amtrak Cascades in 2026 first appeared on The Urbanist.

Passage of House Bill 1837 in both chambers of the Legislature this session means that Paterson’s wish might finally come true. HB 1837 sets targets to boost Amtrak Cascades frequencies, reliability, and speed. Meanwhile, Amtrak’s soon-to-be upgraded SoDo rail yard built will host new and improved Amtrak Airo trains to one day accommodate that vision.

In 2024, only 48% of Amtrak Cascades trains arrived within the defined on-time performance window of 10 minutes. The bill lays out a long-range vision to bring that number up to 88% – and keep it there while expanding service. 

HB 1837 sets a service target of at least 14 round trips per day between Seattle and Portland and a minimum of five round trips per day between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. This would more than double service, as Cascades schedule currently tabs six daily round trips to Portland and two daily round trips between Seattle and Vancouver.

The bill does not allocate funding to guarantee these upgrades are achievable. Instead, it establishes planning and coordination priorities for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as it manages existing intercity passenger rail investments.

According to the bill, WSDOT must integrate performance targets like speed, reliability, and emissions into all ongoing and future planning for the Amtrak Cascades line, which runs from Vancouver, British Columbia to Eugene Oregon via Western Washington’s I-5 corridor.

While in the Senate, the bill was amended to remove speed benchmarks originally set on the bill. Instead the bill calls for an independent study by the Joint Transportation Committee to review WSDOT’s service development plan to guide that benchmark setting.

Laws like these are nothing new.

In 1993, the state Legislature passed legislation setting high-speed rail goals, such as 2.5-hour trips between Seattle and Portland by the year 2000 and 150 miles-per-hour service (241 kilometers per hour) across the state by 2030. 

However, the current top speed on Amtrak Cascades is 79 mph, trip times between Seattle and Portland continue to exceed three hours, and ultra-high-speed rail dreams remain in the planning phase. The 1993 targets ended up being aspirational rather than galvanizing the state to action.

For advocates like Paterson, the passage of HB 1837 signals that long-awaited upgrades may finally be on track.

Rep. Julia Reed (D-36th, Seattle), sponsor of the bill, said the measure provides clear guidance to WSDOT while enabling the state to stay competitive for federal funding.

“The bill basically sets target goals for the Cascades service development plan, which is a federally required plan that WSDOT puts together that lays out how they plan to develop the service for the Cascades in the coming years.”

Republican obstruction could imperil plans

The Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program and other fund matching programs would be the likely source of grants to states to make improvements on their rail system. However, the Trump Administration has been much more hesitant to make transit investments, particularly in Democratic-run states.

In fact, Amtrak has already laid off roughly 20% of its top-level managers and executives in a cost-cutting move in the early days of the second Trump Administration. While the feds hope to save about $100 million in annual costs with the layoffs, it could hinder Amtrak’s expansion plans.

Local Republicans share Trump’s hesitancy to invest in transit upgrades. Sen. Curtis King (R-14th, Yakima), who voted against the bill, said he’s skeptical of the practicality and affordability of the bill, saying that it will only result in more funding needs.

“We don’t know anything about it, and to wait 10 years to find out, I have a real concern with that,” King said.

However, for Reed and supporters of the bill, this passage is an essential part of taking steps into improving the train system.

“I’m not under any illusion that we’ll just snap our fingers and this service will automatically appear,” Reed said. “It’s going to be expensive. It’s going to require state investment, but we can’t even start making those investment decisions until we hear from WSDOT what it would take to meet those goals.” 

The bill also mandates a new annual reporting requirement. By December 1 of each year, WSDOT must submit a detailed update to the Legislature on implementation progress, project performance, and any barriers encountered, such as right-of-way constraints or scheduling conflicts with freight railroads.

For Bill Moyer, executive director of Solutionary Rail, that level of accountability is key.

“We finally have a vision bill,” Moyer said. “This is not just about trains, it’s about climate, it’s about housing, it’s about mobility justice. And it’s about connecting communities throughout the corridor, not just Seattle and Portland.”

Moyer’s group helped lead the charge in advocating for HB 1837, pushing lawmakers to recognize the value of improving existing rail service as a climate-friendly and socially equitable mode of travel.

Overcoming freight obstacles

One of the issues for intercity passenger rail is that Amtrak doesn’t own most of the tracks it runs on. In Washington, that means coordination with freight rail giants like BNSF Railway. Federal law gives freight operators incredible leverage over the tracks in shares with Amtrak and other transit agencies. That means passenger trains are frequently stuck behind freight trains, throwing off Amtrak’s schedules and meaning unexpected delays for riders.

Back in 2003, BNSF agreed to work with Amtrak and WSDOT to improve the system by 2023 with a master agreement. In 2006, WSDOT released a long-range plan that outlines their plans of improving Amtrak Cascade. Yet hitting the 2003 targets has remained elusive without greater investment and coordination.

“We feel that WSDOT has not tried hard enough to work with BNSF to achieve the goals of the long-range plan,” Paterson said.

However, Paterson feels confident that growing support for a more robust interstate transit system will allow WSDOT and Amtrak to achieve the goals laid out on the bill.

HB 1837 doesn’t solve the entire freight rail issue, but it does task WSDOT with improving scheduling coordination with freight rail to reduce passenger delays. 

Complement or competition for high-speed rail plans?

For supporters of the bill, this isn’t just a technical planning measure, it’s about restoring a public good.

Sen. Marko Liias (D-21st, Edmonds), chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said during final passage that HB 1837 lays the groundwork for restoring the Amtrak Cascades to its former glory.

Some critics argue that Washington should be focusing instead on a more ambitious ultra-high-speed rail project linking Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, B.C. That proposal, backed in part by Microsoft and Amazon, would build entirely new rail infrastructure aspiring to hit top speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour.

Meanwhile, other rail advocates argue more incremental Cascades improvements are more quickly attainable, economical, and practical and that a brand new high-speed rail line could turn into a boondoggle.

But Reed says HB 1837 doesn’t compete with the ultra-high-speed vision, but rather complements it.

“I think it’s a false choice to say we’re either going to have intercity rail or high-speed rail,” Reed said. “I think the truth is that intercity rail is already here and needs to be improved and high-speed rail is something we have to build in the future.”

HB 1837 is now awaiting a signature by the governor. It will become law by default on May 20, unless it is vetoed.

SoDo rail yard overhaul lays groundwork for service upgrades

In a hard-hat tour earlier this month, Amtrak unveiled progress on its SoDo rail yard expansion, which was funded by Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Amtrak President Roger Harris led the tour and stressed the importance of the Seattle hub.

“The Pacific Northwest is a key priority for Amtrak, with the popular Amtrak Cascades line between Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, B.C. and points in between, as well as our Long Distance Coast Starlight and Empire Builder trains connecting the region,” Harris said in a statement. “This critical investment will help us meet growing customer demand for a new era of rail with brand new trains that will upgrade safety, reliability, and comfort.”

The nearly $300 million project will create maintenance bays to service the Amtrak Airo train sets and provide capacity for future service expansions, which will be needed to hit frequency goals. Amtrak expects to open the new facility in 2027. Airo trains are set to begin entering service on the Cascades in 2026.

Those Airo trains will be faster, bigger, and more accessible – plus they will also address a service pinch created by the deterioration of aging Horizon train cars across Amtrak’s fleet, which has hit the Cascades particularly hard. This spring, Amtrak scrambled to replace Cascade’s 26 shelved Horizon train cars with alternate Amfleet I train cars. However, those replacement cars have less passenger capacity than Horizon had offered. The new Airo sets will be a reprieve, especially at peak demand times when train capacity will be stretched. 

Beyond serving the Cascades line, the SoDo facility will also maintain other Amtrak and Sounder services that go through King Street Station, which is just north of the facility.

The post Washington Legislature Greenlights Framework for Amtrak Improvements first appeared on The Urbanist.

Amtrak will start restoring train trips on the Cascades service, after removal of 26 rail cars last Wednesday. The railroad has sourced Amfleet I rail cars from across the Midwest, New York, and North Carolina to supplement Horizon rail cars withdrawn from service over corrosion issues.

As of today, five Amfleet I rail cars are in Seattle, after being pulled from Chicago on the Empire Builder. More Amfleet I rail cars are on the way to fill out and fully restore the Cascades service.

Starting on Tuesday, April 1, Amtrak will restore one daily roundtrip between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia with the 8:30am northbound trip (Train Number 516) and 4:45pm southbound trip (Train Number 519) using Amfleet I rail cars. The Amfleet additions will build on the surviving daily roundtrip between Seattle and Eugene via Portland, which operates a 7:10am southbound trip (Train Number 503) and a 4:30pm northbound trip (Train Number 508) using a Talgo 8 series trainset.

All other Cascades trips will continue to be served by replacement bus service until additional Amfleet I rail cars arrive and can be put into service.

For now, Amtrak’s available equipment is limited and each Cascades trip supported by Amfleet I rail cars will operate with shorter trains. According to Amtrak, those trains will include two Coach class cars and one cafe car. The cafe cars will have 17 seats for Business class passengers. As a result of the shorter trains, capacity on some Cascades trips could be about half of normal. 

The Horizon rail cars taken out of service last week haven’t been repaired yet. Amtrak is still coordinating with the responsible manufacturer, Alstom, to determine what repairs would need to take place and anticipated costs. As for the extra Talgo 8 series trainset damaged by a recent windstorm, Amtrak says that it is under repair and that they have necessary parts. However, there’s no timeline yet or when the trainset might go back into service. 

Amfleet I rail cars are older Amtrak equipment, dating from 1975 to 1977 and built by the now-deduct Budd Company, but have been refurbished. The rail cars are typically found on Northeast Corridor and Amtrak Midwest services.

Later this week, as more Amfleet I rail cars arrive, Amtrak expects to restore several other Cascades trips between Seattle and Portland (Train Numbers 505 and 506) and between Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland via Seattle (Train Numbers 517 and 518).

In addition to Cascades, regional intercity rail passengers can continue to book tickets on the once daily Amtrak Coast Starlight long-distance service between Seattle and points south into Oregon. 

While the service pinch on Cascades is likely to continue for quite a while in one form or another, Cascades does have new Airo (Siemens Venture) trainsets on order, which are supposed to be delivered and put into service starting in spring 2026. 

The post Amtrak Begins to Restore Cascades Train Service with Relocated Trains first appeared on The Urbanist.

Cascades service heavily relies on the Horizon rail cars, which provides 26 rail cars in the fleet. Two Talgo 8 series trainsets remain on hand, but only one of those trainsets is in working order, as the second trainset was recently involved in a very damaging tree collision and pending repair. As a result, only one daily Cascades roundtrip (Train Numbers 503 and 508) remains in service using trains, providing service between Seattle and Eugene. All other trips are being supplemented with bus service through Sunday, March 30.

What happens beyond March 30 is unclear.

“Amtrak is determining how to replace the grounded Horizon trains by redistributing other trains in its national fleet,” Janet Maktin, a Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson, said in a statement. “Amtrak will notify the states of Washington and Oregon as soon as a plan is in place to move replacement trains to the Pacific Northwest.”

Historically, the Cascades service exclusively used Talgo trainsets. But in 2019, following the December 2017 derailment of a Talgo VI series trainset near DuPont, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a recommendation to cease use of all Talgo VI series trainsets as soon as possible over safety defects. 

As a result of the NTSB recommendations, WSDOT discontinued use of the trainsets and took on the older Horizon rail cars as an interim solution. Cascades has new Airo (Siemens Venture) trainsets on order, which are supposed to be delivered and put into service starting in spring 2026. Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funded the Airo purchases for Cascades and nationwide — a first step in reversing decades of federal disinvestment in Amtrak service.

The Horizon rail cars were originally manufactured by Bombardier Transportation and put into Amtrak service in 1989. Bombardier later merged with Alstom, the manufacturer that Amtrak is now working with on the Horizon issues. According to Amtrak spokesperson Kelly Just, Amtrak is in the process of examining and developing plans with Alstom to resolve the corrosion problems. Rail cars won’t be able to be repaired at local Amtrak maintenance facilities, necessitating transfer to Alstom.

Amtrak has yet to say where the vehicle corrosion was first discovered and exactly how it poses a risk to vehicles, but there are reports of corrosion found on vehicles maintained in Chicago. 

The decision to ground Horizon rail cars came on Tuesday, according to Just. That decision was made by Amtrak itself, in coordination with Alstom, in what Just called a “proactive move.” The Federal Railroad Administration was also notified and concurred with the decision.

Earlier this week, Trains.com reported that Cascades service was being impacted with train cancellations due to knock-on maintenance backlogs. That followed maintenance backlogs recently impacting Sound Transit’s Sounder commuter rail service. Amtrak denied any connection between the Horizon issue and local maintenance backlogs.

The Horizon rail car suspension affects numerous state-sponsored regional intercity passenger rail corridors across the nation under the Amtrak brand. Outside the Pacific Northwest, Amtrak’s Midwest services are the most exposed, with impacts to corridors in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota. But the ripple effect is also hitting New England’s Downeaster service.

The once daily Empire Builder service will continue to connect Seattle and Everett, but no Amtrak train service will run north of Everett for the time being. The once daily Coast Starlight service offers another option to travel south of Seattle.

While suspension of the Horizon rail cars is not yet directly cancelling Amtrak Cascades service, passengers will still be greatly affected in service quality. Amtrak is scheduling bus service, largely based upon passenger demand, and is honoring bike reservations onboard those vehicles. Passengers booked for business class will be downgraded to coach class, but will be refunded the service class price difference. 

Buses operating between high ridership destinations may occasionally run express, such as directly between Seattle and Portland without intermediary stops, saving passengers some travel time. However, buses will be affected by local traffic conditions.

The crisis impacting several Amtrak corridors across the country is happening while the agency is undergoing a leadership transition. Reportedly, Trump officials pushed to oust CEO Stephen Gardner, who officially resigned last Wednesday, leaving Amtrak leaderless for the moment.

The post Amtrak Shelves 70 Aging ‘Horizon’ Traincars, Upending Cascades Service Indefinitely first appeared on The Urbanist.

Is Washington State finally ready to restart the long-overdue conversation on statewide intercity passenger rail service beyond the I-5 corridor? If the Washington legislature is serious about setting tangible goals for Amtrak Cascades this year, now is the time to also restart the conversation on advancing east-west passenger rail service and connecting Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Yakima, Ellensburg, Auburn, and Seattle. 

In the midst of an otherwise challenging outlook for near-term investment in public transit and passenger rail, recent legislative activity in Olympia gives hope that Washington State is ready to recommit to transportation equality for its residents outside the Puget Sound. House Bill 1837 aims to establish service goals for Amtrak Cascades passenger rail service, including timelines for the achievement of faster travel times and more frequent departures by 2035.

The timeliness and importance of recommitting to east-west passenger rail service is highlighted by the potential restoration of long-distance passenger rail service through southern Montana and the success of the newly-inaugurated Amtrak Borealis service. 

Optimism is growing that the efforts of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority in Montana and the results of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Long Distance Service Study will promote the restoration of passenger rail service to southern Montana along the route of the former North Coast Hiawatha between Chicago, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Yakima, Ellensburg, and Seattle. With the potential for future federal funding to cover 80% of needed infrastructure upgrades along this route via Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Washington State would only need to provide 20% of the capital funding that would otherwise be necessary if it was planning state-supported east-west rail by itself.

This is crucial in our current transportation funding environment. Federal transit funding is likely to be scarce during the Trump Administration, but Washington State must keep advancing its corridors to be ready to secure grants and project approvals once a more pro-transit president is in office.

Passenger rail improvements, though long identified, have been on the back burner and repeatedly delayed, sometimes due to statewide initiatives like Tim Eyman’s car tab repeals and also due to lack of prioritizing rail investment in state budgets. We cannot continue to dawdle if we’re serious about meeting Washingtonians’ mobility needs and leading on climate.

The widely-celebrated success of Amtrak’s new Borealis service between Chicago and the Twin Cities shows the opportunity that exists for the proposed east-west corridor here in Washington. The state-supported Borealis came about after years of planning between Amtrak, host railroads, and the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois Departments of Transportation. Its annual ridership, on track to reach between 230,000 and 240,000, is similar in scale to the numbers suggested for the full Seattle-Spokane corridor in the most recent study of east-west service. 

The Borealis corridor has similar dynamics to those of east-west, connecting major metropolitan endpoints with small towns and medium-sized cities along the way. Even scheduled travel times are in the same ballpark, with both east-west and Borealis running roughly seven to eight hours between endpoints. With virtually all discussion of the Borealis declaring its ridership as a success, projected east-west ridership should also be celebrated as demonstrating wide-reaching benefits of new, high-quality intercity transportation options for many of Washington’s residents who currently lack them.

If we really want east-west passenger rail to happen as the state has planned since 1993, our legislature needs to get its planning process back on track by including frequent check-ins on east-west planning efforts on its agenda alongside Amtrak Cascades. In short, HB 1837 could be amended to include language requiring the Washington State Department of Transportation to provide updates on the status and next-steps needed to continue planning and implementation of east-west passenger rail service.

Based on the 2020 STEER Study, the next step that would be needed is a benefit-cost analysis that would prepare the route for funding and final approval. From there, HB 1837 should ensure that progress continues to be made on advancing planning and funding activities for both Amtrak Cascades and east-west service. From the special Amtrak service for Expo ‘74 in Spokane, to the additional Cascades trips to Bellingham added during the 2013 Skagit River Bridge Collapse, Washington is no stranger to stepping up to support regional and long-distance rail services crisscrossing the state when the need arises.

Rather than proposing temporary improvements, though, HB 1837 demonstrates our legislature’s willingness to build a truly robust passenger rail service along the busy I-5 corridor between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC. Let’s make sure our legislature doesn’t forget about the I-90, I-82, and US-395 corridors in the process.

Comment on the bill and urge lawmakers to not just support Amtrak Cascades improvements, but also east-west service.

The post Op-Ed: Legislature Should Advance Amtrak Planning in Central and Eastern Washington first appeared on The Urbanist.

“This bill is all about strengthening our existing passenger rail service by setting ambitious goals in the upcoming Service Development Plan that [the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)] is working on in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration and the state of Washington,” Rep. Reed said during Wednesday’s floor debate. “It’s often said that you can’t do anything if you can’t measure it. And with Amtrak Cascades, our on-time performance, trip times, and reliability have been really challenged over the past few years. So the focus of this bill is to set measurable goals for the Amtrak Cascade service and to ask WSDOT to work with the legislature on sharing with us the challenges in meeting those goals so that we can be a better partner.”

With passage from the House, the bill moves onto the Senate where it has some support. A companion bill was introduced into the Senate with seven co-sponsors and made it as far as a public hearing late last month in the Senate Transportation Committee. The House bill will have until April 8 to get out of committee in the Senate, and if it does it will have some time to be passed before the legislative ends on April 27.

For most Democrats, endorsing Amtrak improvements appears to be a ‘yes and’ approach with advancing high-speed rail, which was a priority under Governor Jay Inslee. However, Republican supporters seem to view it as a replacement for more costly high-speed rail investments. 

Speaking to the bipartisan nature of the bill, Rep. Andrew Barkis (R-2nd, Lacey) said improving Amtrak Cascades performance and frequency was important, but that high-speed rail planning efforts underway in the state were misguided. Cascades service just needs to be better, he argued.

“I will be ‘yea’, and for one primary reason, and that is: I believe that we need to continue to put the resources into this incredible corridor that we have, that we should focus those resources on making sure that we can improve the reliability and on-time performance and more frequent service for this corridor, and that those that should be the focus of this legislature, that should be the focus of the state,” Barkis said. 

During the floor vote Wednesday, a substitute version of the bill passed with one Reed amendment altering it somewhat from when the bill was introduced in early February. Nevertheless, the key objectives of the legislation for faster and more frequent and reliable service by 2035 remain intact.

In short, the substitute bill would set the following goals for Cascades service: 

• Increased frequency to at least 14 daily roundtrips between Seattle and Portland and five daily roundtrips between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia;
• Increased speeds such that travel time is reduced to no more than two hours and 45 minutes between Seattle and Portland and three hours and 20 minutes between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.; and
• Improved on-time performance reliability of at least 88%.

If realized, these goals would more than double service over today’s levels and shrink travel times by 21% to 25%. Cascades service is currently scheduled to take about three hours and 30 minutes between Seattle and Portland with six daily roundtrips and four hours to four hours and 30 minutes between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. with two daily roundtrips. On-time performance (defined as reaching the final destination within 10 minutes of scheduled arrival) would also be greatly improved, increasing about 40 points from an abysmal 48.2% recorded last year.

The bill recognizes that these goals will require cooperation from host railroads such as BNSF and governmental partners outside of Washington in order to be fully realized, and that the ambitious nature of the goals requires ongoing oversight. Consequently, WSDOT will be required to report on progress and engage with the state legislature annually on implementation of the goals. 

The substitute bill also introduced some additional policies to be addressed in enhancing Amtrak Cascades service. Those include goals to improve first- and last-mile transportation connections at stations and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with state goals.

The legislative process has slightly reduced the impact of travel time goals. The initial version of the bill sought to reduce travel times to no more than two hours and 30 minutes between Seattle and Portland and two hours and 45 minutes between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. But the floor amendment on Wednesday pared those goals back by 15 minutes between Seattle and Portland and 35 minutes between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

The proposed legislation doesn’t include funding to turn any of the goals into reality. However, WSDOT is working through a multi-phase planning process with the Federal Railroad Administration to identify, design, and develop cost estimates for infrastructure improvements and procurement to deliver on alternatives for enhanced Cascades service. If fully passed, the bill would signal a legislative intent to follow through on funding once the agency completes the implementation plan — of course there are no guarantees in a tough funding environment.

This article was made possible by the generous support of The Urbanist Fund. The Urbanist Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports local, public-interest journalism. See theurbanistfund.org for more information or to make a tax-deductible gift.

The post State House Approves Bill Mapping Out Amtrak Cascades Upgrades first appeared on The Urbanist.

Service reductions on Sounder first began on Thursday, February 13, following discovery that there had been a “maintenance lag” on equipment. Sound Transit had initially reported that Amtrak, which is responsible for maintaining Sounder vehicles, was in the process of ensuring inspection and preventative maintenance on various systems, including train doors and communications. 

Sound Transit had to take 23 train cars out of service. As a result, Sounder had been operating service with shorter trains than normal for more than a week and suspended two roundtrips per day on both the Sounder S Line and N Line. While Sound Transit is yet to restore those trips, all trains are now offering five-car service on the S Line between Seattle and Tacoma/Lakewood and two-car service on the N Line between Seattle and Everett.

As Amtrak has ramped up maintenance efforts, at least 11 of 23 Sounder sidelined cars have been put back into service. Sound Transit had originally estimated maintenance work would take six weeks to complete, but it does appear that the pace of recommissioning vehicles for service could greatly shorten that timeframe. Both Sound Transit and Amtrak have stressed, however, that they don’t have a definite timeline for full restoration yet.

Sound Transit cited ridership patterns as the reason it has opted to restore longer trains rather than increasing trips as it brings more train cars into service. 

“Our three-car and four-car trains currently lack the necessary capacity to accommodate our existing ridership,” agency spokesperson John Gallagher told The Urbanist. “Restoring five-car trains on the S line has been our top priority, as we are committed to providing our customers with a safe and comfortable travel experience. While three- and four-car trains are safe, they can become quite uncomfortable when at full capacity.”

Details still haven’t been provided on the full scope of the maintenance issue, but Amtrak said that the issue stemmed from a review of inspection records that found discrepancies. Despite the maintenance lag, Sound Transit has said that riders and Sounder personnel were never in present danger.

On Wednesday, Sound Transit reported that extra Amtrak maintenance staff have been brought in to address the backlog, including staff from as far away as Los Angeles. Amtrak has also put more maintenance bays into use in SoDo at its Lander Street base to expedite maintenance work. 

“Amtrak is expediting inspections and maintenance of certain Sound Transit rail cars,” Olivia Irwin, a spokesperson for Amtrak, told The Urbanist. “We expect a sufficient number of cars to return to service over the coming weeks to permit normal service levels and train lengths.”

Amtrak has pledged an internal investigation and conveyed their apologies to riders. 

“While reviewing inspection records, Amtrak personnel proactively identified an inspection data discrepancy that required a number of Sound Transit cars to be removed from service,” Irwin told The Urbanist. “We apologize to our partner and the customers impacted by these cancellations. An investigation is underway to determine the root cause and take appropriate action.”

Nevertheless, four daily weekday roundtrips remain canceled on the S and N Lines, with two roundtrip cancellations on each line. That makes for a bigger impact on the N Line since there are normally only four roundtrips — not counting Rail Plus access via Amtrak Cascades. 

For now, riders may want to consider alternative transit service to supplement canceled Sounder trips or using Amtrak Cascades service. Under a temporary expansion of the Rail Plus program, ORCA card holders can access Cascades trains that share common stops on both Sounder corridors. That gives Sounder riders along both the S and N Lines access to Cascades trains with stops at Tacoma Dome and Tukwila, in addition to Everett, Edmonds, and King Street in Seattle. Riders opting for Cascades trips should refer to the current schedule.

“Passengers board from inside the station, not on the Sounder platform, and are encouraged to arrive at least 15 minutes early,” Irwin told The Urbanist. “Riders must show their ORCA card or ticket to the conductor as they board the train.” Riders may also want to check in with an Amtrak station agent prior to boarding a Cascades train.

The post Amtrak Ramps Up Sounder Train Maintenance Work, but Service Still Reduced first appeared on The Urbanist.

Under the proposed 2035 goals, Cascades service would be improved to 2.5-hour trip times between Seattle and Portland with at least 14 daily roundtrips and 2.75-hour trip times between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. with at least five daily roundtrips. Additionally, Amtrak Cascades would need to maintain at least 88% on-time performance. The goals are predicated on the delivery of corresponding corridor improvements over the next decade to reach the targeted service characteristics.

A pro-rail coalition worked with legislators to champion the bills. Banded together as the “Rail Can’t Wait” campaign, the coalition included the Climate Rail Alliance, WA Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Solutionary Rail — a group which also penned an op-ed in The Urbanist last April. On Tuesday, the coalition published a press release arguing now is the time for a new Cascades service and infrastructure enhancement implementation law, nudging the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to action.

“This legislation is needed to address concerns that WSDOT’s plans for Amtrak Cascades are not sufficiently robust,” the coalition press release reads. “Commenting on these plans, House Transportation Committee Chair [Jake] Fey and Ranking Member [Andrew] Barkis wrote that the WSDOT plan needs to drive transformative improvements in trip speed, reliability, and frequency that make traveling by rail along this corridor more convenient, accessible, and competitive with other modes of travel.”

The plan would more than double service over today’s levels and shrink travel times by 28% to 39%. Cascades service is currently scheduled to take 3.5 hours between Seattle and Portland with six daily roundtrips and 4 to 4.5 hours between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. with two daily roundtrips. The plan would also put WSDOT under the microscope for reliability, with the goal of pushing on-time performance back to a reasonable level. Cascades on-time performance (defined as reaching the final destination within 10 minutes of scheduled arrival) has collapsed from 81% in 2013 to 48.2% between January and October of last year.

The proposed legislation doesn’t include funding to turn goals into reality, but WSDOT is still in the midst of a multiphase planning process to identify, design, and develop cost estimates for infrastructure improvements to deliver on alternatives for enhanced Cascades service. The bill would signal legislative intent to follow through on funding once the agency completes the implementation plan — of course there are no guarantees in a tough funding environment.

WSDOT has studied Amtrak and Cascades service expansions and upgrades several times in its history, but the proposed legislation would represent the first time that the state legislature has backed a specific service expansion plan and accountability for conventional intercity passenger rail in statute.

Since 2023, WSDOT has been participating in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) Program. As part of this, WSDOT has drafted up service concepts and preliminary identified potential infrastructure improvements under the new Cascades Service Development Plan (SDP). A final version of the SDP has yet to be published, but doing so will enable WSDOT to move further into the design and cost estimating phases of the Corridor ID program and queue up SDP capital infrastructure projects for federal grant funding and financing. The state legislature could also eventually be a source of revenue for the projects.

Simultaneously, WSDOT is studying an “ultra-high-speed” rail line connecting Seattle to British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and Portland, and won a $50 million grant to advance planning in the final days of the Biden Administration. The proposed high-speed rail line, which hopes to cut travel times to each city under 90 minutes, is still unfunded and likely decades away from opening. Hence, targeted Cascades upgrades in the interim would be able to expand critical intercity passenger rail service sooner at a fraction of the cost and provide a basis for complementary and supportive service to high-speed rail when it opens.

Reaching the goals outlined in the state legislation would require major track improvements to allow for consistently higher speeds, such as realignment, new sidings, and additional mainline tracks. Top speeds are currently restricted to 79 mph on the fastest sections of the Cascades corridor, but WSDOT has suggested improvements to support 90 mph top speeds. Rail Can’t Wait campaigners are aiming higher with sections for up to 110 mph, as new Cascades equipment will be capable of reaching top speeds of 125 mph. Along with this, signal and systems upgrades, junction and railyard modifications, and more trainsets would be required.

The proposed goals align closely with the high growth scenario outlined in WSDOT’s 2019 State Rail Plan update and seem to suggest reaching service levels somewhere between the Option D and E concepts in the preliminary SDP. That would translate to serving somewhere between 2.5 million and 3.3 million riders each year between Portland and Vancouver, B.C., based upon WSDOT estimates. The full Cascades corridor, including service to Eugene, reached 909,551 riders in fiscal year 2024, a 41% increase in ridership from the year before and an all-time record high precipitated by increased frequency and post-pandemic normalization.

The proposed legislation does recognize that the goals may be challenging to realize in a decade, but nevertheless directs WSDOT to prioritize them as it proceeds through the Corridor ID process and to engage with host railroads like BNSF and Sound Transit to achieve the goals. Should WSDOT have difficulty in delivering one or more of the goal targets, the department would need to provide details annually to the state legislature in order to collaborate on solutions to deliver on the targets or modify them, as appropriate.

With the proposed legislation just entering the state legislature for consideration, neither chamber has scheduled a public hearing on it yet. But transportation policy bills like this still have about four weeks to be considered and passed out of their house of origin transportation committee in order to live on during this year’s session, and the sheer number of co-sponsors is certainly a positive signal that it could get airtime.

The post State Lawmakers Chart Path to Double Amtrak Cascades Service first appeared on The Urbanist.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) won a $50 million grant in December 2024 to advance high-speed rail planning — assuming that the Trump Administration doesn’t illegally impound the funding. In 2023, WSDOT conducted a study of Amtrak Cascades service that found that 16 daily trips to Portland (more than doubling existing service) would be the optimal level. However, a state plan to fund and implement such a service plan has yet to emerge.

The post Sunday Video: Give Amtrak Cascades The Upgrade It Deserves first appeared on The Urbanist.