Pacific Northwest Corridor
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The Pacific Northwest Corridor or the Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor is one of eleven federally designated
higher-speed rail Higher-speed rail (HrSR), also known as high-performance rail, higher-performance rail, semi-high-speed rail or almost-high-speed rail, is the jargon used to describe inter-city passenger rail services that have top speeds of more than convent ...
corridors in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The corridor extends from Eugene, Oregon to
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
via
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
and
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
in the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
region. It was designated a high-speed rail corridor on October 20, 1992, as the one of five high speed corridors in the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA, pronounced ''Ice-Tea'') is a United States federal law that posed a major change to transportation planning and policy, as the first U.S. federal legislation on the subject in ...
of 1991 (ISTEA).


Current passenger service

The Pacific Northwest Rail corridor is used by several
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
and local
commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
services. Amtrak operates the ''
Amtrak Cascades The Amtrak ''Cascades'' is a passenger train corridor in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade mountain range that the route parallels. The corr ...
'' service over the length of the corridor, as well as the ''
Coast Starlight The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...
'' from Seattle southward. The ''
Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...
'' uses the corridor on short segments, via two sections in Seattle and Portland. BNSF Railway operates
Sounder commuter rail Sounder commuter rail is a commuter rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Lakewood. In , the system had a ride ...
for
Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, ...
between Seattle and Tacoma, and Seattle and Everett.


History


Development of the corridor

What became the Pacific Northwest Corridor was largely developed between the 1860s and the 1910s by the Southern Pacific Railroad, Northern Pacific Railway, and Great Northern Railway. Passenger service declined after the 1910s, but service was present on the whole corridor when
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
took over intercity passenger service in the United States on May 1, 1971.


Eugene–Portland

In 1866, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
granted land to a then-unnamed railway that would traverse the length of
Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...
south from Portland to the
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
state line. A railway company that would later become Ben Holladay's Oregon Central Railroad began laying track on the east side of the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
in
East Portland, Oregon East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the portion of present-day Portland that lies east of 82nd Avenue, most of which the City of Portland ...
in April 1868. This railroad reorganized as the
Oregon and California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad s ...
; it was completed as far south as Roseburg, Oregon by December 1872. In 1887, the Oregon and California was purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). By 1940, the SP operated six daily round trips between Portland and Eugene: five long-distance trains – the ''Beaver'', '' Cascade'', ''Klamath'', ''Oregonian'', and '' West Coast'' – that continued to Oakland via the Shasta Route, and the ''Rogue River'' local service that ran to
Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ...
on the older Siskiyou Line. Service gradually was decreased; after September 1966, the ''Cascade'' was the only remaining SP service running between Portland and Eugene. It was reduced to tri-weekly service in 1970, but lasted until the start of Amtrak.


Portland–Seattle

In 1864, President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
signed the Northern Pacific Charter, which established the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) with the charge of constructing a rail connection between the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
and
Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
. Work on the first section of the railway's
right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
in
Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
began at
Kalama Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili (1817 – September 20, 1870) was a Queen consort of the Kingdom of Hawaii alongside her husband, Kauikeaouli, who reigned as King Kamehameha III. Her second name Hakaleleponi is Hazzelelponi in Hawaiian. Ear ...
in 1870. After an 1873 decision to place the Puget Sound terminus in
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
, scheduled service on the NP's Pacific Division between Kalama and Tacoma began on January 5, 1874. The NP-affiliated
Puget Sound Shore Railroad The Puget Sound Shore Railroad (properly The Puget Sound Shore Railroad Company() and successor Northern Pacific and Puget Sound Shore Railroad (properly Northern Pacific & Puget Sound Shore Railroad Company() built a branch line of the Northern Pac ...
connected Tacoma to Seattle on July 6, 1884. Rail service between Tacoma and
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
(with a ferry between Goble, Oregon and Kalama) began on October 9, 1884. The original line was extended south from Kalama to
Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
in 1901 by the Washington Railway & Navigation Company, which was soon acquired by the NP. In 1906, the Portland and Seattle Railroad Company – a joint venture of the NP and the Great Northern Railway (GN), both owned by
James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
, began construction of the final link from Vancouver into Portland. The 1908 opening of the Columbia River bridge completed the all-rail route ("Prairie Line") between Seattle and Portland, eliminating the need for the ferry crossing at Kalama. By August 1909, the NP ran four daily round trips between Portland and Seattle. The next January, the NP signed an agreement with the Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company – a subsidiary of the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
(UP) – giving the UP
trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...
over the Prairie Line. A similar agreement with the GN was reached that June. By May 1914, three railroads ran some 11 daily Seattle–Portland round trips (4 NP, 4 UP, and 3 GN) plus a number of freight trains. The GN used the 1884-built NP route into 1906-built
King Street Station King Street Station is a train station in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is served by Amtrak's '' Cascades'', ''Coast Starlight'', and ''Empire Builder'', as well as Sounder commuter trains run by Sound Transit. The station also anchor ...
in Seattle, while the UP used the 1909-built Milwaukee Road line into
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
. The substantially increased passenger service on the NP required the original single-track mainline to be straightened and double tracked. This was completed between Portland and Kalama in 1909, and between Kalama and
Tenino, Washington Tenino () is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,870 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1906, the city sits upon land first established as a food-source prairie for Native Americans living in the area. Th ...
around 1915. However, the section of the Prairie Line between Tenino and Tacoma had a section of difficult 2.2% grade. The NP opened Tacoma Union Station and the new water-level Point Defiance Line around
Point Defiance Point Defiance may refer to: * Point Defiance Park Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington, United States, is a large urban park. The park includes Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Rose Garden, Rhododendron Garden, beaches, trails, a boardwalk ...
in December 1914. The southern between Tenino and Plumb, Washington was reused from the Olympia Branch of the Port Townsend Southern Railroad, purchased earlier that year, while a short section east of Olympia used the 1891-opened Tacoma, Olympia & Grays Harbor Railroad. Although slightly longer than the Prairie Line, the Point Defiance Line was substantially flatter. The UP moved all service to the new line, and the NP moved most service, though the GN continued to use the old line. By the mid-1920s, the GN, NP, and UP began operating "Pool Service", where tickets were cross-honored between the three railroads on their Seattle–Portland services. In 1933, the three railroads reduced service to one daily round trip each – a level maintained for several decades. The GN trip was moved to the Point Defiance Line on August 8, 1943, ending through service on the Prairie Line north of Tenino, and the last passenger service between Tacoma and Grays Harbor via Olympia and Lakewood ended in February 1956. The GN and NP were merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1970. Final pre-Amtrak BN-UP Pool Service consisted of three daily round trips – one (UP) to Union Station, and two (BN) to King Street. The original line was upgraded in the 2010s, with Sounder and
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
service added via the Point Defiance Bypass.


Seattle–Vancouver

The original line from Seattle to
Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
was completed by four separate companies which were soon consolidated under
James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
's Great Northern Railway (GN) to provide the GN with two Pacific ports. The Fairhaven and Southern Railroad (F&S) was completed from Sedro, Washington to
Fairhaven, Washington Fairhaven (or Fairhaven Village) was a settlement in Washington state founded in 1883 by Dan Harris. In 1903, it became part of the city of Bellingham. Description The Fairhaven area is situated on the south side of Bellingham, and borders Be ...
in late 1889, with an extension along the shoreline to the international border at Blaine, Washington completed on October 25, 1890. The Hill-controlled New Westminster Southern Railway was simultaneously completed from
Brownsville, British Columbia Brownsville was a former community in what is now the City of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Also known as South Westminster, it was located where the city ran a small ferry across the Fraser River, today approximately where the east footing of ...
(across the Fraser River from
New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...
) to the international border, where it was connected to the F&S on January 10, 1891. In 1890, Hill incorporated the Seattle and Montana Railroad, which acquired the struggling F&S and began construction from Seattle northwards to a connection with the F&S in Belfast, Washington. The first Seattle–Brownsville through train ran on November 27, 1891; regular service began on December 4. The GN transcontinental route was completed in 1893; it connected to the Seattle and Montana at
Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...
. In August 1902, the John Hendry-owned Vancouver, Westminster and Yukon Railway began construction of a line from the rapidly growing city of
Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
to New Westminster, with a bridge crossing the Fraser River to connect with the GN. The GN gained access to Vancouver with the completion of the
New Westminster Bridge The New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge (NSRW) or the Fraser River Swing Bridge) is a swing bridge that crosses the Fraser River and connects New Westminster with Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. The bridge i ...
and the VW&Y in late 1904. The New Westminster Southern was formally purchased by the GN in 1891, the Seattle and Montana in 1907, and the VW&Y via its Canadian subsidiary Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway and Navigation Company (VV&E) in 1908 after years of poor relations, formalizing GN control of the corridor. The GN was not the first Seattle–Vancouver rail route—the Northern Pacific-owned Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E) was completed from Seattle to a connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway at
Mission, British Columbia Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original To ...
in 1891. However, the inland SLS&E route had numerous curves and steep grades; Hill had considered purchasing it in 1890, but deciding that constructing the Seattle and Montana would allow superior service. Passenger service ended on the SLS&E in the mid-1920s, leaving the GN as the only Seattle–Vancouver passenger route. Several portions of the route were realigned in the first decades of the 20th century. Replacement of leased trackage with GN-owned trackage in Everett, including a new tunnel under the downtown area, was completed on October 7, 1900. A tunnel into downtown Seattle opened in 1905 to reach
King Street Station King Street Station is a train station in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is served by Amtrak's '' Cascades'', ''Coast Starlight'', and ''Empire Builder'', as well as Sounder commuter trains run by Sound Transit. The station also anchor ...
, which opened the next year. Construction began in 1901 on the Chuckanut Cutoff, which ran at water level along
Bellingham Bay Bellingham Bay is a bay of the Salish Sea located in Washington State in the United States. It is separated from the Strait of Georgia on the west by the Lummi Peninsula, Portage Island, and Lummi Island. It is bordered on the east by Bellingha ...
between Fairhaven and Belleville (north of Burlington, Washington) to bypass the numerous sharp curves on the original F&S route. The cutoff opened on February 15, 1903, and the original F&S line was abandoned from Fairhaven to
Lake Samish Lake Samish ( ) is a lake south of Bellingham, Washington, United States. Visible to the west of Interstate 5 when travelling between Alger and Bellingham, Lake Samish is heavily used for recreation in the summer months by local residents. ...
. The Great Northern and VV&E opened a new coastal route with lower grades from Brownsville to Blaine on March 15, 1909. The construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle, which began in 1911, necessitated the replacement of the single-track bridge connecting Interbay Yard and Ballard. The new double-track bridge and of connecting line opened in 1914. By 1913, the GN operated four Seattle–Vancouver round trips (three of which continued south to Portland) and one Seattle–Blaine round trip; this decreased to three Seattle–Vancouver round trips by 1928. The 1950 introduction of the streamlined ''
International International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
'' increased daily service to four daily round trips – three ''Internationals'' and one unnamed local. The GN dropped one ''International'' round trip in May 1960, and a second in June 1969. By the time Amtrak began operations, the Burlington Northern ran a single daily ''International'' round trip.


Amtrak era

Initial Amtrak service in 1971 consisted of an unnamed tri-weekly Seattle–
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
train (later named '' Coast Starlight-Daylight'') and two unnamed Seattle–Portland round trips (later named '' Mount Rainier'' and ''
Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
''), with no service north of Seattle. The ''
Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...
'' also ran on the corridor between Seattle and the connection with the ex-Northern Pacific mainline at Auburn, Washington. The daily Seattle–Vancouver ''
Pacific International The ''Pacific International'' was a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Seattle, Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia. It was Amtrak's first international train service, operating from 1972 until 1981. History ...
'' began service on July 17, 1972. ''Coast Starlight-Daylight'' (later ''Coast Starlight'') service became daily on June 10, 1973, resulting in three daily Seattle–Portland round trips. The Seattle–Salt Lake City ''
Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...
'' displaced the ''Puget Sound'' on June 7, 1977, with no change to service levels on the corridor. From June 11, 1973 until its discontinuance on October 8, 1979, the ''
North Coast Hiawatha The ''North Coast Hiawatha'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington. Operating from 1971 to 1979, the train was a successor to the Northern Pacific Railway's ''North Coast Limited ...
'' also ran on the corridor between Seattle and the connection with the ex-Great Northern mainline at Everett. In 1977, the
Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...
(ODOT) studied the possibility of service between Portland and Eugene. Two additional Portland–Eugene round trips were added on August 3, 1980, with the introduction of the state-subsidized ''
Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...
''. The ''Pacific International'' was discontinued on September 30, 1981, ending service north of Seattle. The stops at Edmonds and Everett were restored on October 25 when the ''Empire Builder'' was rerouted over the ex-GN mainline. A Portland section of the ''Empire Builder'', which ran on the corridor between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, was also created at that time. The ''Willamette Valley'' was discontinued on December 31, 1981 after state funding was ended. Service remained largely constant until November 4, 1993, when the ''Pioneer'' was reduced to tri-weekly service.


Expanded service

The 1991 passage of the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA, pronounced ''Ice-Tea'') is a United States federal law that posed a major change to transportation planning and policy, as the first U.S. federal legislation on the subject in ...
resulted in the designation of five high-speed-rail corridors in October 1992 – among them the Eugene–Vancouver Pacific Northwest High-Speed Rail Corridor. Between 1992 and 1994, ODOT studied service improvements on the Portland–Eugene section of the corridor. Several reports produced by the Washington Department of Transportation in 1992 indicated that
maglev Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation''), is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of electromagnets: one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage ...
service on an all-new right-of-way or
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
of the existing corridor would be impractical, leaving enhancements to diesel-powered trains as the likely option for improved service. In 1993, the Washington legislature allocated funds for the development of incremental improvements to Amtrak service in the state. Daily service was to be eventually increased to 13 Seattle–Portland round trips and 4 Seattle–Vancouver round trips.
Tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide ab ...
s and infrastructure improvements were to be used to decrease travel times – from 4 hours to 2.5 hours between Seattle and Portland, and from 4 hours to 3 hours between Seattle and Vancouver. Work on a corridor-level Environmental Impact Statement for the Washington section of the corridor began in January 1996; however, it was suspended in August 2000 in favor of less intensive environmental documentation for individual projects. Parallel to this infrastructure planning, the states began funding service expansions on a trial basis. On April 1, 1994, Washington began a 6-month trial of a rented
Talgo Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains. Corporate history TALGO, an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: ''Lightweight articulated tr ...
tilting trainset, which was used to add an additional Seattle–Portland round trip called ''Northwest Talgo''. On October 1, 1994, the ''Northwest Talgo'' was replaced by the ''Mount Adams'' using conventional equipment. ODOT funded an extension of the ''Mount Rainier'' to Eugene, which began on October 30. WSDOT also funded the Seattle–Vancouver ''Mount Baker International'', which began service on May 26, 1995, using the rented Talgo set previously used on the ''Northwest Talgo''.


Modern changes

Current investment in passenger rail in the Pacific Northwest Corridor will not be used to create a dedicated high speed passenger rail corridor from the ground up, but will instead create more modest systematic improvements to the existing railway used by the
Amtrak Cascades The Amtrak ''Cascades'' is a passenger train corridor in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade mountain range that the route parallels. The corr ...
line that uses trackage owned primarily by private freight railways. On January 27, 2010 the federal government announced $590 million of ARRA stimulus funds will go to Washington State for higher speed improvements of its section of the corridor. Additionally, the state of Oregon will receive $8 million to improve Portland's Union Station and trackways in the area. On December 9, 2010 US Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the ...
announced that Washington State will receive an additional $161 million in federal higher-speed rail funding from the Federal Rail Administration after newly elected governors in both Wisconsin and Ohio turned down their states' high-speed rail funding. This brings Washington's total funding to about $782 million. These investments funded the construction of the Point Defiance Bypass, which will reduce travel times and enable the addition of two extra trips in the Seattle-Portland Amtrak Cascades corridor daily.


Ultra high speed rail

In July 2017, the Washington State Legislature budgeted $300,000 for a preliminary feasibility study of "Ultra High Speed ground transportation" operating at speeds of or more, linking Vancouver, BC to Seattle and Portland. This study was completed by December that year, and analysed technology options, route options, preliminary financing and funding models, and recommended conducting a more detailed business case analysis that will examine ridership projections, governance, funding and financing models in greater detail.
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
paid $60,000 for this preliminary study, and had also earlier sponsored an economic analysis report which served as the catalyst for this preliminary study commissioned by Washington state In February 2018, a new non-profit, cross border, grassroots advocacy group named Cascadia Rail was formed to promote and advocate for high speed rail in the Pacific Northwest. In March 2018, Washington state authorized up to $750,000 to be spent on conducting a detailed business case analysis as recommended by the preliminary feasibility study, if additional funding sources could be identified. In July 2018, Washington governor Jay Inslee travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia to meet with B.C. Premier John Horgan. As a result of that and other meetings, additional funding sources were identified and eventually increased to around $1.55 Million USD and came from 4 sources: $300,000 Cdn from the B.C. provincial government, $750,000 USD from Washington State, $300,000 USD from Oregon's Department of Transportation, and $300,000 USD from Microsoft. In October 2018, the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference, a Microsoft co-sponsored, cross border initiative to encourage cross border business investment and collaboration, met for the third time where one of the topics was to discuss updates on the high speed rail business case analysis. In January 2019, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill that approved up to $900,000 to study the creation of a high-speed rail authority in Washington state if additional funding sources could be identified. Again, Jay Inslee travelled to Vancouver to meet with John Horgan and as a result, Horgan announced that the BC provincial government would contribute $300,000 Cdn towards studying a cross-border governance model for the high speed rail authority. Additional funding for the balance came later on from Oregon and Microsoft. In July 2019, the business cases analysis was completed and a detailed report was submitted to WSDOT. The detailed report confirmed that an ultra high speed rail system could be constructed within the 2017 estimate of $24 to $42 Billion and help establish the Pacific Northwest as a Mega-Region if construction were to start by 2027. Later in the year, various groups held conferences to discuss the findings of the business case analysis and promote ultra high speed rail in general. The most notable conference was the Cascadia Rail Summit held in November 2019, held at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, WA, which brought participants from private corporations, pro-business non-profits, government organizations and universities from both sides of the border. In November 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring high-speed rail to the Cascadia Corridor was signed by Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Represent ...
, Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the ...
, and British Columbia Premier
John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...
.


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High-Speed Passenger Rail
Washington State Department of Transportation The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington. Established in 1905, it is ...

Cascadia Rail
{{High-speed rail High-speed railway lines in Canada High-speed railway lines in the United States Pacific Northwest