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posted 01/27/10 09:42 PM | updated 01/27/10 09:42 PM
Featured Post! | Views: 0 | Comments : 2 | Politics

High Speed--Okay, Faster--Rail from Seattle To Portland

By Michael van Baker
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Sunset on the Portland to Seattle trip

President Obama's plug for high speed rail in the State of the Union address was followed by AP reporting, tonight, that Washington state is one of the thirteen major corridors in line to see faster service: in our case, from Seattle to Portland.

Sen. Patty Murray says we will receive $590 million, and extra Amtrak trains. Seattlepi.com say the improvements on the Seattle to Portland line will allow Amtrak trains to pass BNSF freight trains, the slowpokes that often cause delays currently. The ultimate goal is a top speed of 110 mph.

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The problem
with the famed Orlando-Tampa route is that it's between 2 cities that no one wants to visit.

On the other hand a Portland-Seattle route would be a route between two appealing cities, but with few residents willing to ride the train.

On the other hand, at 110 mph, we could get to Portland in about 2 hours, right? That shaves a whole hour off the car commute, as long as you don't have to cruise for parking in Seattle, wait for a train, get a rental car in Portland. In other words, great for some uses, but not so great for many real-life cases (like going to Portland to visit the lovely Oregon coast).
Comment by bilco
2 days ago
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RE: The problem
I'd be thrilled if the train ever hit 110mph, which is funny because a French TGV prototype in the '70s hit 198mph (now they can break 300mph). *sigh*

That said, "willing to ride the train" is loosey-goosey category. There are plenty of times during the year when you can't book a seat on Amtrak because they are sold out. That's with them being late a full 30 percent of the time, and late like a half hour is getting off easy. If you can get to Portland in two hours *and* on time *and* without fighting I-5, there's plenty of demand to be tapped.
Comment by Michael van Baker
2 days ago
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