Bah Bah ha!! After writing multiple pro-European train articles, I finally get to write about the US!
About the proposed Portland-Seattle-Vancouver Bullet train! Washington's (D) Governor and supporting Democrats are asking the Federal government for $198 million to plan the route and make it a shovel ready project.
Oregon Reps are introducing A bill to add even more funds to expand the route down to Eugene to cover the whole I-5 Cascade corridor.
Washington’s transportation department in partnership with Oregon and B.C. is preparing to apply this spring for more than half a billion dollars in federal funding to make the Vancouver-through-Seattle-to-Portland “ultra-high speed” train “shovel ready.”
The project is for a train with a top speed of at least 250 mph operating on a dedicated track. That could whisk travelers from Vancouver, B.C., to Seattle in one hour and from Seattle to Portland in another hour, in a climate-friendly manner to boot.
The current top speed of Amtrak trains in the Pacific Northwest is 79 mph. Those passenger trains are routinely delayed by congestion on a mainline shared with freight trains.
A feasibility study completed in 2017 pegged the cost of building a Vancouver-Seattle-Portland bullet train at between $24 billion to $42 billion dollars depending on how much tunneling is involved.
Cascadiarail.org is the non-profit working on lobbying for this. (If you are in the region please sign up to volunteer!)
Founded in 2018, Cascadia Rail is an organization of advocates spanning from Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia who support Governor Inslee & Premier Horgan’s efforts to connect the Cascadia region through high speed rail. Below is from their website
Our Vision
Cascadia Rail is advocating for a system that starts with the passenger. That means removing barriers to use, getting the most people out of cars. We want it to be a convenient and easy choice, so that people choose to use fast trains instead of driving or flying.
What that looks like:
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Station locations in downtowns, airports, and employment centers, where the most people will use them
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Station locations that connect with a city’s existing bus/rail network
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Ticket prices that are affordable for the most people
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A project build timeline to meet our climate goals of 2030
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Did you know Seattle is the third largest city in the country where people waste 3 hours or more each day commuting? According to WSDOT, a one way commute between Seattle and Tacoma/Everett takes 90 minutes; that’s triple the time a 30-mile journey should take due to traffic.
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Seattle has the third largest population of mega-commuters in the country. A mega-commuter has a one way commute to work that is 90 minutes or longer. In the past 5 years, the number of mega-commuters has grown 72%, according to the US Census. More than 50,000 people commuting between Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue have a journey of 90 minutes or more.
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In one year, an individual can spend 780 hours commuting by car — that’s 33 days — of your time each year sitting in traffic. High speed rail would connect Seattle to Tacoma/Everett in 15 minutes — a total of 130 hours or 6 days each year commuting. With high speed rail, you gain 27 days of your life back. What would you do with an extra month of time?
And wow would the train ride for Timbers/Sounders/WhiteCap rivalry games be fantastic!! Weekend trips by train to see concerts/exhibits in these cities would be so much fun if I could leave the car behind!!
For details the Federal feasibility studies from WSDOT and other agency’s can be found under the plan tab on Cascadiarail.org site. The Oregonian Paper has an article on it to day (behind a paywall) — just over here doing my happy dance!