The Obama administration will grant $598,000,000 toward improving the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland-Eugene Amtrak corridor. This will come in handy after 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...ercity-passenger-rail-program-eugene-portland
Blah trains stick suck, and will until they are 20%+ faster than driving and more afordable than driving too. This is only good for a slooowww ride down to portscum while drinking before a match.
You can get a round-trip ticket for about $80. Round trip for gas for a carpool might be cheaper, but it's uncomfortable packing that many people in a car. Then you have to park it, which might cost money. There is also the wear and tear on the car. Maybe a speeding ticket, plus the anxiety of driving, especially in traffic. take it easyyyy
Having the additional times added is as much a help as the speed. Right now, a lot of times when I go to Vancouver by train, I have to take a bus back depending on what time I need to be home. So this is good news, now if they can just speed up the delay at the border!
I take the Bellingham-Seattle round trip when possible. It's cheaper if it's just me, about the same for two of us and more expensive if you split gas 3 ways. I'll take the extra time if it means I can read or type or whatever instead of drive. I'm excited to se what we end up with.
I've written quite a bit about this issue over the years. The big problems really are places where the tracks just can't handle the speed the trains can go. Living in Bellingham I take a Seattle round-trip a couple times a year. The bridge over the slough between Marysville and Everett is dangerous and requires the trains to come to almost a stop to cross. Once I was stuck there for hours because the bridge didn't close correctly after opening for a boat. British Columbia is even worse. They have refused to invest money in the north-south line because it's of little benefit to them. The bridge across the Fraser is the slowest river crossing you will ever experience in your life. And then the train practically stops every block as it proceeds in a gully through to downtown. You could get out and walk and get their faster. It sounds like the Obama money is focused on the Seattle-Portland part of the corridor, though. (Next time you get stuck in B'ham waiting for a train/bus, Westie, drop a note to "Harris" or myself and I'm sure we'll find a pub to take you to.)
Trying to find the link that actually listed the projects I saw this morning, but the upgrades do include several improvements on the Seattle to Vancouver BC route, including building a parallel line at the border so freight trains can be inspected on one line and passenger trains on another. Update: Found the link.
How long will it be before any improvement is actually seen? How long will it be before people will be able to get from Seattle to Portland and back in the same day?
A long time. Depends what you mean by back and forth in the same day. The current "improvements" are only going to take 10 minutes off the 3.5hour Seattle to Portland trip. However, increasing the trips from 6 to 8 should give you more options as far as leaving early and coming back late. If you're talking about a true day trip, then it's probably going to be at least a couple of decades. True high speed trains work best if they are on dedicated lines and require grade separation from road traffic. That kind of construction requires a lot of money and quite a bit of time to do.
As this currently seems more related to the Cascadia Cup travel options I will leave it here for now. If it devolves into a transit debate I will move it to NSR. Obviously high speed trains are only as effective as the tracks they run on, so for this to be truly successful we will need track and signaling upgrades. But I would definitely take the train to BC or Portland over driving any day especially match day
that sounds fun and I agree. I'd love to see the faces of random passesngers boarding the train to cars filled with Sounders fans in rave green and blue, drinking and singing all the way down. these random passengers would probably be "WTF?" and be looking for the hidden camera during the entire trip.
Thank you Mr. President! You have made it even easier for me to get drunk as a skunk before heading down to Portland in 2011.
This doesn't make sense. Not sure what they are thinking. Wouldn't making it easier for people in Seattle to make it up to Vancouver and spend tourist dollars, etc., be good for the Vancouver economy?
No it wouldn't, because your idea is too sensible and logical. The Provincial government up there just can't have that
I think they are much more focused on the East-West Canadian routes. Amtrak is an American endeavor, one that in this region is actually paid for by the state of Washington Department of Transportation, for the most part. And as far as the tracks go, I think the attitude in B.C. has been if tracks owned by Burlington-Northern and used by BNSF and Amtrak need upgrading, then the Americans should pay for it. There just is no political pressure in B.C. to do something. In fact it's probably the opposite. People in B.C. would prefer that transportation money be spent on roads, not helping Americans get in and out of town. By the way, here's a link to a pretty old blog post from a rail advocate in Burnaby, B.C., talking about the state of the entire system up there. It is headlined "Rail in Canada blows." http://www.paulhillsdon.com/?p=388