Amtrak Cascades 2017 upgrades

[CHamilton]

Amtrak Cascades Looks Toward 2017

Next year is a big year for Amtrak Cascades. The 2009-era stimulus projects will complete, Seattle and Portland will get two additional trips, and those trips will be faster and much more reliable. Since it’d been a while since we’d done an update on heavy rail projects, last month I sat down with Janet Matkin (Rail Communications Manager), David Smelser (Cascades HSR Program Manager), and Jason Biggs (Rail Operations Project Manager) to discuss the next year and a half for the Cascades program.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Amtrak Cascades Looks Toward 2017

Next year is a big year for Amtrak Cascades. The 2009-era stimulus projects will complete, Seattle and Portland will get two additional trips, and those trips will be faster and much more reliable. ... an update on heavy rail projects ...

A thoro report from the Seattle Transit Blog, and reassuring, too. WSDOT is on it.

Interesting items in the interview include this: "Functionally, we need all the bills in

by the first of June 2017. We need to get those paid and invoiced to the Federal Railroad Administration, so the work needs to be wrapped up by April/May 2017." (I expect to see

some other states scrambling to meet the filing deadlines. Illinois? We're looking at you! LOL.)

Another tidbit. The new timetables including the two added frequencies need to be cleared with half the world -- BNSF, Sounder, Oregon DOT, Amtrak, etc. But WSDOT wants a 6 a.m. departure from Seattle/Portland, to arrive in Portland/Seattle before 10 a.m. That's about 1:30 earlier than the current first Seattle departure, and 2 hrs earlier out of PDX. And a later 7 p.m last departure out of Portland/Seattle. This timetable is aimed to attract business riders by offering one-day, go-and-return schedules.

Also farebox recovery has held pretty steady around 60%.

 

[fairviewroad]

Interesting article. Sounds like you'll have about 14 more months to enjoy the Puget Sound scenery between Tacoma and Olympia.

 

[Karl1459]

Interesting article. Sounds like you'll have about 14 more months to enjoy the Puget Sound scenery between Tacoma and Olympia.

Mini gathering? Ride the last train on the Pt Defiance route and the first on the bypass?

 

[CHamilton]

Interesting article. Sounds like you'll have about 14 more months to enjoy the Puget Sound scenery between Tacoma and Olympia.

Mini gathering? Ride the last train on the Pt Defiance route and the first on the bypass?

You bet! Meet you at King Street?

 

[fairviewroad]

Interesting article. Sounds like you'll have about 14 more months to enjoy the Puget Sound scenery between Tacoma and Olympia.

Mini gathering? Ride the last train on the Pt Defiance route and the first on the bypass?

You bet! Meet you at King Street?

Sure, in the Met Lou...uh oh.

 

[west point]

As read there will be no last trip thru Pt Defiance. That route will still be an alternate in case of any problem on Lakewood.

 

[seat38a]

Yet no news still about the dumb seat assignment system that the Cascade does. That could be easily improved. Get rid of it!

 

[bmjhagen9426]

Does the Cascades Upgrade due next year include other things besides the Point Defiance Bypass, such as mudslide risk mitigations (including slope stabilization and retaining walls between Seattle and Everett)? The service between Seattle and Everett is disrupted more than any other especially during the rainy season (although service can still be disrupted between Seattle to Portland due to mudslides, although the SEA-PDX mudslide disruption is less common compared to SEA-EVR mudslide disruption but still possible), and I heard that the mudslide between Seattle and Everett has knocked a BNSF freight train off the tracks in December 2012. I think it is time to address and mitigate this persistent issue.

P.S. Proof that the SEA-EVR section has more disruption than the others during the Northwest rain season: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Station#Services

 

[CHamilton]

Does the Cascades Upgrade due next year include other things besides the Point Defiance Bypass, such as mudslide risk mitigations (including slope stabilization and retaining walls between Seattle and Everett)?

Yes. Here's a list.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Rail/Projects.htm

And here's the info on slide mitigation projects.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Rail/slidemanagement/

 

[bmjhagen9426]

Interesting article. Sounds like you'll have about 14 more months to enjoy the Puget Sound scenery between Tacoma and Olympia.

I agree. I am considering on riding the Cascades between Portland and Seattle before the Cascade's normal route is rerouted via the Point Defiance bypass. Gotta do it on my next visit to Portland.

 

[fairviewroad]

As read there will be no last trip thru Pt Defiance. That route will still be an alternate in case of any problem on Lakewood.

Well, the tracks aren't being ripped up and taken out of service, if that's what you mean. But there will be no more scheduled service on the Pt. Defiance route. Could it be used in the case of IRROPS on the Lakewood route? I'd imagine so, in the same way as Amtrak has some alternate routes at its disposal in select locations around the country. But it would be hard to predict those in advance, so for all intents and purposes the Pt. Defiance route is going away.

 

[zephyr17]

As read there will be no last trip thru Pt Defiance. That route will still be an alternate in case of any problem on Lakewood.

Well, the tracks aren't being ripped up and taken out of service, if that's what you mean. But there will be no more scheduled service on the Pt. Defiance route. Could it be used in the case of IRROPS on the Lakewood route? I'd imagine so, in the same way as Amtrak has some alternate routes at its disposal in select locations around the country. But it would be hard to predict those in advance, so for all intents and purposes the Pt. Defiance route is going away.

Also, the new Tacoma station will not be on the Pt. Defiance route and using Pt. Defiance would require a backup move.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Oregon Lawmakers On Track to Renew Amtrak Funding

Northwest News Network, Chris Lehman
June 23, 2016

An Oregon legislative panel has signed off on a plan that would ensure the state’s passenger rail service will run at least two more years along the I-5 corridor.

Oregon subsidizes two Amtrak Cascades passenger trains each day between Portland and Eugene. Rail advocates sounded the alarm this spring when lawmakers who chaired a budget subcommittee questioned whether the state was getting enough bang for its buck.

Ridership dropped by nearly 15 percent last year after the state changed when the trains run each day.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-oregon-lawmakers-on-track-to-renew-amtrak-funding/

We shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this, but we do worry. Glad to see this threat fading away.

 

[fairviewroad]

For the record, that article is from 2015, not 2016.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

For the record, that article is from 2015, not 2016.

My apologies. I went from Midwest High Speed rail email that had this current link

http://www.opb.org/news/article/amtrak-trains-northwest-federal-regulations/

then clicked a "related" (if stale) article displayed on that page, and fell down the rabbit hole.

I'll go away for a while and hope to come back more refreshed and alert.

 

[Palmetto]

THere's one big problem with the schedule, according to some of the locals. The morning departure from PDX to Eugene is the wrong part of the day for a southbound trip.

 

[Bob Dylan]

THere's one big problem with the schedule, according to some of the locals. The morning departure from PDX to Eugene is the wrong part of the day for a southbound trip.

And so can the Oregon DOT and Amtrak work out a deal with the owners of the tracks ( is it BNSF?) for a SB departure/arrival time that makes more sense?

 

[fairviewroad]

THere's one big problem with the schedule, according to some of the locals. The morning departure from PDX to Eugene is the wrong part of the day for a southbound trip.

Yeah, that change came about as part of a much ballyhooed schedule change by ODOT about 2 1/2 years ago. The idea was to allow same-day roundtrips in either direction on the Oregon section. Surprise surprise, there wasn't much demand for a southbound departure at 0600 from PDX to Eugene. The northbound counterpart seems to be doing reasonably well. But if they could delay the southbound departure even by an hour it would probably do much better. On the whole though, it's the through-trains from Seattle to Eugene via PDX that do the best.

That said, the original article is more about the Washington section of the Cascades. It's not clear what effect the WSDOT-proposed schedule overhaul would have on the Oregon section. Obviously there needs to be some level of coordination, but at the end of the day, ODOT owns two of the trainsets and I suppose if they want to continue to run a PDX-EUG train in the morning, they can.

 

[Steve4031]

And meanwhile between Seattle and Tukwila I sit on 513 waiting for freights. We departed Seattle on time and ran at 30 mph until stopping a mile or so north of Tukwila. We are on eastern track of a set of two tracks. Assuming we are waiting for freight traffic so we can switch tracks to enter the station.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Which brings up once again, why haven't Oregon and Washington DOTs Bought or Leased the " Wisconsin" Talgos moldering away @ Beech Grove?

 

[CHamilton]

Which brings up once again, why haven't Oregon and Washington DOTs Bought or Leased the " Wisconsin" Talgos moldering away @ Beech Grove?

No money. There had been a line item in the Washington state budget for this, but our governor took it out. And to be honest, having the equipment would be nice, but there would be no place to use it until money is found for operation of, say, an east-west train through Stampede Pass. There is some progress being made on that front, but it's not likely to happen any time soon.

 

[CCC1007]

Which brings up once again, why haven't Oregon and Washington DOTs Bought or Leased the " Wisconsin" Talgos moldering away @ Beech Grove?

No money. There had been a line item in the Washington state budget for this, but our governor took it out. And to be honest, having the equipment would be nice, but there would be no place to use it until money is found for operation of, say, an east-west train through Stampede Pass. There is some progress being made on that front, but it's not likely to happen any time soon.

Couldn't they be used to give the rest of the fleet an update to the amenities?

 

[neroden]

Which brings up once again, why haven't Oregon and Washington DOTs Bought or Leased the " Wisconsin" Talgos moldering away @ Beech Grove?

Don't need them until they increase the number of frequencies.
After the 2017 upgrades and the 7th frequency are in place, I expect ridership to *boom*. After that happens, I think Washington DOT will be considering the 8th frequency more seriously, and then they'll probably buy them.

 

[Karl1459]

Several things to consider. The new Talgos are not well liked by crews that I have talked to, whether real issues or just being different I don't know. The Talgos are expensive to maintain compared to conventional equipment, and do not have the flexibility for adding capacity for peak periods.

I feel at some point of success, especially if there is a one seat train Eugene to Vancouver BC and return, that capacity will be an issue and the economics of bi-level equipment will be such that investment will go that way. With increased frequency that is happening the time difference vs Talgo and bi-level will not be too much consideration especially as both will be come more and more limited by maximum track speed as various track improvements happen.

The only way that Washington could justify purchasing the Talgos would be to expand Cascades service to Spokane (which routes, GN, NP, or SP&S does not matter). Oregon is likely to be in a financial crisis within the next several years and we will be lucky to keep the existing service.