Amtrak Cascades Service

[Cal]

I have a few questions about the Amtrak Cascades service.

1: How is their OTP performance? Generally the Surfliner is pretty good. However on Yelp I have seen so many reviews of trains being frequently over 60 minutes late. Why is this?

2: How frequent and popular is their service? As I write this, there are three active surfliner trains. However since the pandemic I have never seen more than one Cascade train at a time. Is it really that unpopular? I thought it was pretty frequent, comparable to the Surfliner.



And can I ask a question about Amtrak California on here or...

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Normal service frequency is 2 trains Eugene-Portland, 4 Portland-Seattle, and 2 Seattle-Vancouver. The current reduced schedule only has 1 train Eugene-Seattle and nothing north of there.

 

[Cal]

Normal service frequency is 2 trains Eugene-Portland, 4 Portland-Seattle, and 2 Seattle-Vancouver. The current reduced schedule only has 1 train Eugene-Seattle and nothing north of there.

Does that include southbound trains? Or are those only one way?

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Does that include southbound trains? Or are those only one way?

Those numbers are for each direction, and also exclude LD service sharing the route.

 

[Willbridge]

There's a good summary of what's happening in the Pacific Northwest in the annual State of the Rails on the All Aboard Washington site.

State of Washington Trains

Links to WSDOT site with percent changes for the bigger Washington transit systems, ferries, rail, etc.

As reported in another thread, Oregon and Washington and Amtrak are planning on restoring part of the pandemic cutbacks on August 1, subject to change. It's in the reservation system currently. Crews are training. Note also that the PDX-EUG Thruway bus schedules may change.

There are projects underway now in both states to reduce freight and other delays.

 

[Trogdor]

There are fewer Cascades trains than Surfliner trains for a few reasons:

1) Washington and Oregon, while Amtrak-friendly, haven’t put anywhere near as much money into intercity rail as California has (key reason)

2) The Cascades route is still a pretty busy freight corridor vs. the relatively limited freight (except for the BNSF section from Fullerton to just past LAX which, IIRC, is 3 or 4 tracks) competing for Surfliner capacity. Most of the Surfliner route is actually owned/controlled/dispatched by passenger authorities, as opposed to little-to-none of the Cascades route.

3) Population density is probably quite a bit higher along the Surfliner corridor vs Cascades corridor (just a hunch, but admittedly I haven’t looked up the data).

 

[Cal]

There's a good summary of what's happening in the Pacific Northwest in the annual State of the Rails on the All Aboard Washington site.

State of Washington Trains

Links to WSDOT site with percent changes for the bigger Washington transit systems, ferries, rail, etc.

As reported in another thread, Oregon and Washington and Amtrak are planning on restoring part of the pandemic cutbacks on August 1, subject to change. It's in the reservation system currently. Crews are training. Note also that the PDX-EUG Thruway bus schedules may change.

There are projects underway now in both states to reduce freight and other delays.

Thank you.

 

[Cal]

There are fewer Cascades trains than Surfliner trains for a few reasons:

1) Washington and Oregon, while Amtrak-friendly, haven’t put anywhere near as much money into intercity rail as California has (key reason)

2) The Cascades route is still a pretty busy freight corridor vs. the relatively limited freight (except for the BNSF section from Fullerton to just past LAX which, IIRC, is 3 or 4 tracks) competing for Surfliner capacity. Most of the Surfliner route is actually owned/controlled/dispatched by passenger authorities, as opposed to little-to-none of the Cascades route.

3) Population density is probably quite a bit higher along the Surfliner corridor vs Cascades corridor (just a hunch, but admittedly I haven’t looked up the data).

True. I just thought that the Cascades were pretty frequent.

 

[zephyr17]

True. I just thought that the Cascades were pretty frequent.

They were before COVID. They will be again.

 

[Cal]

They were before COVID. They will be again.

I hope so. I also recently found a Surfliner schedule from 2017 and didn't realize there used to be 12 trips in EACH direction each day. Vs the 12 trips TOTAL we have now.

 

[Trogdor]

“Frequent” is a relative term. The Cascades never had the frequency the Surfliner had, but 4x/day each way Seattle-Portland, plus the Starlight, did a decent job of covering most of the day.

 

[Danib62]

Not to bump an old topic, but does anyone know if the Port Defiance Bypass is back open yet? I read about them qualifying crews but haven't heard much since.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Not to bump an old topic, but does anyone know if the Port Defiance Bypass is back open yet? I read about them qualifying crews but haven't heard much since.

No, the crew qualifying is still ongoing. It has not yet been announced when revenue service on the line will start.

 

[Danib62]

Thanks for the info! Excited for the more scenic coastal route for my trip on #505 in a couple of weeks. Now fingers crossed I get one of the two Talgo sets...

 

[Cal]

That's why I'm taking the Starlight up from LA in mid August, I want to get one last ride along the coastal route

 

[Triley]

Thanks for the info! Excited for the more scenic coastal route for my trip on #505 in a couple of weeks. Now fingers crossed I get one of the two Talgo sets...

505/500 are the only trains running Talgo at the moment.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your date of travel?

 

[Danib62]

Traveling on the 25th, I thought they were rotating which trains use the Talgo sets.

 

[Cal]

Traveling on the 25th, I thought they were rotating which trains use the Talgo sets.

@Triley is a pretty reliable source, I believe them.

 

[Danib62]

Well in that case I'm stoked, thanks for the tip @Triley!

 

[Triley]

Well in that case I'm stoked, thanks for the tip @Triley!

No problem. It so happens that on that day I'm working 50....3 and 508. I'll make sure to clear the way for ya.

But yes, from what I've been hearing, they're trying to keep the Talgo sets contained to certain trips again. Which this makes sense, that way seating capacity is consistent from day to day.

Have a great trip.

 

[Danib62]

Doh so close!

 

[Willbridge]

505/500 are the only trains running Talgo at the moment.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your date of travel?

Trains 500/505 would be the premier schedule for Oregon government business travel to Portland, Olympia or Seattle (the federal regional capital city).

 

[Triley]

For those who are curious, 505/500 is now Horizon for a while. 503/508 will be Talgo. One trainset sustained some damage due to being rocked.

 

[Cal]

For those who are curious, 505/500 is now Horizon for a while. 503/508 will be Talgo. One trainset sustained some damage due to being rocked.

I'll be on 14 and 11 in December by the way

 

[Triley]

I'll be on 14 and 11 in December by the way

I'm hoping to be back on the Builder for the winter, but we'll see. Maybe we'll cross paths in SEA or PDX. We don't ever work 11/14 unfortunately.