New Amtrak Cascades round trip
Starting on Saturday, Amtrak Cascades began offering a new option between Seattle and Portland, and better connecting service from this corridor to Bellingham and Everett.
I rode the inaugural train - passengers were treated to little cupcakes, Amtrak Cascades pens, and an early arrival into Portland, despite chasing the slower, hour-late Coast Starlight all the way to Centralia. With passengers coming all the way from Bellingham, the train was sold out, including many seats in the dining car.
I browsed the urban design and transport sections at Powell's Technical Books while we were in town, and we returned to Seattle in the evening on the usual late service.
While on board, I learned that about 4/5 of the funding necessary to extend the second northern round trip to Vancouver, BC is now available - $4.5m of $5.5m. That would be fantastic - an evening trip into Vancouver would be possible, doubling the available seats and allowing for trips starting Friday night instead of Saturday morning.
posted by Ben Schiendelman @ 10:17 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I didn't realize it had been 40 years since we had this much service. It's nice to see - maybe soon we'll overtake the service that was there 100 years ago.
I wanted to take VIA cross-country, but the three day a week issue did kind of kill it for me. They do allow flag stops, though!
Oh, you did say - the ex NP line.
I don't know - with that grade, it's a long trip. And you have to use the nasty coastal track from Seattle to Everett - remember that cost $400 million or something for Sounder to run four trains.
Post a Comment
<< Home