I just found a Summer 1999 Amtrak schedule, which proudly introduces Amtrak Cascades service, and proclaims “…this summer, we’ll make travel even easier by introducing an additional daily departure from Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC.”
We STILL don’t have it!
And what makes this so unusual? Lots of products, services, etc. that were promised to be COMING SOON never saw the light of day.
I realized later that the title of this thread is perhaps incorrect–the train is NOT running… sort of. Actually, there is a train from Seattle to Vancouver, which runs north in the morning and south in the evening. But it justs sits in Vancouver all day long, instead of making another run. So perhaps “Amtrak train stuck in station for ten years” would have been more appropriate.
Unlike other delayed products (such as Boeing’s 787), there are no technological or infrastructure impediments to improved rail service in this corridor. The only problem here is politics. As far as “competition” with freight trains is concerned, it is my impression that the ports of Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Vancouver, and Prince Rupert are fiercely competing for traffic; there are very powerful forces which would rather see this line remain low-volume as far as freight is concerned.
How about that leg of the Sunset Limited between N.O. and Orlando that was halted “temporarily” until the track was fixed following Katrina? That line was fixed years ago!
My understanding is that Amtrak is willing to provide an additional train, but Canadian Customs wants C$1500 a day to service the entry into Canada.
Especially in light of the upcoming Olympics, I would think Canada is adding to their border personnel and would welcome something productive for them to do in the meantime, but they must not see it that way. Perhaps one of our Canadian contributors could help us with that country’s view of the problem.
I’ve commented on the customs fee before, and noted that Washington State will get $30 million in stimulus funding for the Border Crossing “Peace Arch–” enough to pay the customs fee for 20,000 trains!!!
An article in the Sunday, July 12, Seattle Times says an additional train should be running by August. Basically, the morning southbound / evening northbound Bellingham trains will be extended to Vancouver. I have no idea what this means for crews.
The existing schedule stays the same, with the train sitting in Vancouver all day.