Train ties between Seattle and Portland will grow July 1 with the addition of a fifth daily Amtrak round-trip between the cities.
The additional train helps integrate Cascadia by making connections easier along the corridor from Bellingham to Portland. Here’s the info from Amtrak.
This is a case of supply trailing demand. Highways along the Cascadia corridor are increasingly clogged. The latest train is the first new service in the corridor since 1999. Even without additional service, passenger traffic from Seattle-Portland rose 6 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to a Seattle Times report.
The new train is funded by a multi-billion-dollar transportation package approved last year by Washington, whose taxpayers fund three current round-trips using new train equipment. The trains make the trip in about 3:30. A daily Amtrak on its way to L.A. and back also serves the route more slowly.
Cascadia travelers are waiting for British Columbia’s government to step up with funding to fix the weakest link in the Cascadia corridor: between the U.S. border and downtown Vancouver.
Comments
One response to “More Cascadia train links”
Great idea to significantly increase the number of passenger trains and the smooth the user friendly nature of the customer experience in Northwest train travel.
We are used to the German and Scandinavian trains and they are soo much a part of the culture and land used planning that we really miss that experience in the USA. Hope you will open up to traveler suggestions from their european experiences.
One thing is that the train stations need a business lounge that has good coffee nice outlets for laptop charging and wireless. This would really encourage the business traveler.