Amtrak Cascades

Amtrak Cascades
The Cascades at Carkeek Park in 2006.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Active
Locale	Pacific Northwest
First service	May 1, 1971
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Average ridership	2,335 daily 852,269 total (FY11)
Route
Start	Vancouver
End	Eugene
Distance travelled	467 miles (752 km)
Train number(s)	501, 513, 507, 509, 513, 517 (odd) southbound 510, 500, 504, 506, 508, 516 (even) northbound
Technical
Rolling stock	EMD F59PHI diesel locomotive EMD F40PH locomotive used as non-powered control units Talgo articulated tilting train sets
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	Union Pacific and BNSF
Route map Legend 0 Vancouver, BC Canada/U.S. border 62 mi (100 km) Bellingham 88 mi (142 km) Mount Vernon 103 mi (166 km) Stanwood 123 mi (198 km) Everett 139 mi (224 km) Edmonds 157 mi (253 km) Seattle 168 mi (270 km) Tukwila 196 mi (315 km) Tacoma 232 mi (373 km) Olympia-Lacey 251 mi (404 km) Centralia 294 mi (473 km) Kelso 334 mi (538 km) Vancouver, WA Washington/Oregon border (Columbia River) 344 mi (554 km) Portland Steel Bridge (Willamette River) 359 mi (578 km) Oregon City 396 mi (637 km) Salem 424 mi (682 km) Albany 467 mi (752 km) Eugene

The Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the Washington State and Oregon Departments of Transportation in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. It is named after the Cascade mountain range that the route parallels.

The corridor runs 156 miles (251 km) from Vancouver, British Columbia south to Seattle, Washington, continuing 310 miles (500 km) south via Portland, Oregon to Eugene, Oregon. Two daily trains travel to and from Vancouver, with Seattle or Portland as its starting or ending point; supplemental Thruway Motorcoach service connects travelers from Vancouver, BC to trains heading south from Seattle, as well as providing additional service between Portland and Eugene, and connections to other Amtrak Thruway destinations in Washington and Oregon. The second daily service between Seattle and Vancouver, BC started on August 19, 2009. As of December 2011 four trains run daily between Seattle and Portland, with two of those providing service to Eugene.

Cascades is Amtrak's eighth-busiest route, and it carries the most passengers of any of the railroad's services outside of the Northeastern U.S. or California. Total ridership for 2011 was over 850,000. During FY2011, the service had a total revenue of $30,025,126, an 8.9% increase over FY2010. Farebox recovery for the train has also increased from 48% in 2008 to 72% in 2010.

History

The Mount Rainier in 1974. Note the dome car and coaches still bearing pre-Burlington Northern liveries.

The Amtrak Cascades route was originally operated as a joint partnership by the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Union Pacific prior to the creation of Amtrak in 1971. In 2013 travel times between Seattle and Portland remained the same as they had been in 1966, with the fastest trains making the journey in 3 hours 30 minutes.

When Amtrak started operations in 1971 there were three trains running between Seattle and Portland daily and the connection to Vancouver was discontinued by Amtrak. These three trains were unnamed at first, but with the advent of Amtrak's first "official" timetable in November 1971, one became the Coast Starlight (which continued south to Los Angeles), while the other two became the Mount Rainier and Puget Sound.

1972 brought the return of the Vancouver service, with the inauguration of the Pacific International. It always was a small train, though for a time it had one of the most unusual consists in the Amtrak system, carrying one of the few observation cars that Amtrak operated.

The corridor grew in 1980 with the State of Oregon financially subsidizing two daily round trips between Portland and Eugene. Named the Willamette Valley, these trains were discontinued in April 1982. This was on the heels of the Pacific International's discontinuance in September 1981. This left three trains on the Portland-Seattle corridor: the Coast Starlight, the Pioneer and the Mount Rainier. This situation remained unchanged for the next 12 years.

Expansion in the 1990s

Amtrak Cascades consist in Portland, Oregon with NPCU at the head of the train.

In 1994 Amtrak instituted a six-month trial run of modern Talgo equipment over the Portland-Seattle corridor. Amtrak named this service Northwest Talgo, and announced that it would institute a second, conventional train on the corridor (supplementing the Mount Rainier) once the trial concluded. Regular service began on April 1, 1994. Looking toward the future, Amtrak did an exhibition trip from Vancouver through to Eugene. Amtrak introduced the replacement Mount Adams on October 30. At the same time the state of Oregon and Amtrak agreed to extend the Mount Rainier to Eugene through June 1995, with Oregon paying two-thirds of the $1.5 million subsidy.

Vancouver service returned on May 26, 1995, when the Mount Baker International began running between Vancouver and Seattle. The state of Washington leased Talgo equipment similar to the demonstrator from 1994. Amtrak renamed the Mount Rainier the Cascadia in October 1995; the new name reflected the joint Oregon-Washington operations of the train.

A third Seattle-Portland corridor train began in 1998, replacing the discontinued long-distance Pioneer. By spring 1998 all three Seattle-Portland/Eugene trains were using leased Talgo equipment, while the Vancouver train used conventional equipment. Amtrak introduced a temporary Pacific Northwest brand for all four trains, dropping individual names, in preparation for the introduction of new Talgo equipment built in the United States and owned by the state of Washington. Amtrak announced the new Amtrak Cascades brand in the Fall 1998 timetable; the new equipment began operation in December. Amtrak extended a second train to Eugene in late 2000.

In 2004 the Rail Plus program began,^{[citation needed]} allowing cross-ticketing between Sound Transit's Sounder commuter rail and Amtrak north from Seattle to Everett.

The corridor has continued to grow in recent years, with another Portland-Seattle train arriving in 2006, and the long-awaited through service between Vancouver and Portland, eliminating the need to transfer in Seattle, beginning in August 2009 as a pilot project to determine whether a train permanently operating on the route would be feasible. With the Canadian federal government requesting Amtrak to pay for border control costs for the second daily train, the train was scheduled to be discontinued on 31 October 2010. However, Washington State and Canadian officials held discussions in an attempt to continue the service, which resulted in the Canadian government waiving the fee permanently.

Total ridership for 2008 was 774,421, the highest annual ridership since inception of the service in 1993. Ridership declined in 2009 to 740,154 but rose 13% in fiscal year 2010 to 836,499 riders.

Rolling stock

Tilting Cascades passenger cars made by Talgo. The baggage car from the Mt. Adams set separate from the rest of the cars. Note the shared-wheel arrangement. Inside the bistro car with the route on the ceiling.

The Amtrak Cascades is painted in a special scheme. The train is normally operated in a push-pull configuration with an EMD F59PHI at one end, a 12- or 13-car Talgo-built trainset, and an unpowered EMD F40PH locomotive called a Non-Powered Control Unit (NPCU) on the other end used as a cab car. The NPCU contains a concrete weight to meet FRA weight requirements for collision safety as well as regulations for crash safety for the Talgo cars, which are not FRA crash-rated.

Most of the Talgo sets are serviced in Seattle, but major repairs are done in Los Angeles' Amtrak 8th St. Coach Yard and the Redondo Junction. On some occasions, you can see a Cascades engine on the Coast Starlight heading down to LA.

The NPCUs in Cascades service are different from those Amtrak has converted in the past. Earlier versions, operating in several other Amtrak corridors, are sometimes called “cabbage cars” because they serve as both a cab control car and a baggage car. In "cabbage cars", the engine of the locomotive is removed and the empty space is utilized as baggage space, with roll-up baggage doors in the carbody sides. The Cascades NPCUs have some baggage room features, but since the Talgo sets include a baggage car, the NPCUs in Cascades service retain their original engine-access doors. Unusually, the Talgo baggage cars feature hooks for roll-on bicycle transport; most other Amtrak services require bicycles to be boxed.

This stripped locomotive still contains controls in the cab so it can be used as a cab control car when the train is going northbound and the powered F59PHI becomes a pusher from the rear. When traveling south the train is operated from the cab of the powered F59PHI or in some cases a GE P42DC unit. In mid-2009, the Talgo sets including their engines and NPCUs were switched backwards after the repaired sets came back from being serviced in Los Angeles. This means the NPCUs lead the train south and the power unit (an F59PHI or a GE P42DC unit) lead the trains north. This was until late in 2012 when the Talgo sets returned yet again from repairs. During the time of reversed facing trains, train numbers 510 and 517 were operated with SuperLiner cars. The NPCUs have five-digit numbers (i.e., #90253) rather than the powered F59PHI’s three-digit numbers. Each NPCU's number directly corresponds to its number when it had its prime mover, in that the previous number had the prefix 90- added to it when the F40PH was de-motored. In 2008, Amtrak Cascades unit 90230 (NPCU and former F40PH #230) was switched with a Phase V painted NPCU numbered 90278. This NPCU is different from those dedicated to the Cascades service because of its two roll-up baggage doors and its absence of a cement weight inside. The inside of NPCU 90278 was meant to hold baggage but has gone unused since it began serving the Cascades. Talgo baggage cars have been made to hold baggage themselves rendering 90278's inside useless. The F59PHI's assigned to Cascades service are numbers 465-470. In rare occasions, a consist will have two powered locomotives on each side or have no cab car at the other end of the train. Amtrak has also instituted more regular use of the GE P42DC locomotive in Cascades service, including runs with a P42 on each end instead of the normal locomotive/cab car configuration. Amtrak's earlier GE P32-8BWH diesel locomotive has also appeared in occasional service.

The passenger cars themselves are produced by Talgo, the only cars by that company currently in operation in the United States. These cars are designed to passively tilt into curves, allowing the train to pass through them at higher speeds. Despite a maximum design speed of 124 mph (200 km/h), current track and safety requirements limit the train's speed to 79 mph (127 km/h), although a $781 million work is currently underway for the Cascades route which will allow them to operate at speeds up to 110 mph (177 km/h).

The Talgo trainset is articulated – each passenger car in the Talgo set shares a single pair of wheels with the next, such that they cannot be uncoupled without lifting one car onto a support. This design can also reduce jackknife in a derailment.

A typical train consists of a baggage car; two business-class coaches; one lounge/dining car; one cafe car (also known as the Bistro car); six standard coaches; and one service car.^{[citation needed]}

Four of the five trainsets are named after a mountain in the Cascade Range: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood. The last set is named after Mt. Olympus, in the Olympic Range.

One of the five sets currently in service, the Mt. Adams set was originally built as a demonstrator and for potential service between Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. This was built with two additional standard coaches, for a total of 14 cars. It operated on the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. run for several years in its original configuration. It was also originally painted in a different color scheme, using the blue, black and silver of Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner instead of the green, brown and cream found on the other sets.

A six-car spare set, including a baggage car, service car, lounge-dining car, cafe car and two standard coaches, was also built. The two additional coaches from the fifth trainset and the two coaches from the spare set were placed in service on four of the other sets, resulting in four 13-car trains and one 12-car train.

Fins on the baggage and service cars serve only as an aesthetic transition from the high top of the American-built locomotives to the roof of the low-slung European-designed passenger cars.

During 2013, two further Talgo trainsets, owned by Oregon Department of Transport, are due to enter traffic to enable further expansion of services. These trainsets differ from the original five by having cab cars integrated into the set, therefore not requiring the use of F40PH NPCU units.

Defects

In August 2007, a problem involving a crack in a suspension arm assembly between two cars of a Talgo trainset resulted in Amtrak and Washington DOT temporarily pulling all the sets from service. The agencies replaced them with standard single-level Amfleet- and Horizon-series coaches and buffet cars.

Because the conventional rolling stock did not have the tilting features found on the Talgo sets, runs were lengthened by 30 minutes, resulting in four-hour schedules between Seattle and Portland. Amtrak returned the remaining sets to service over several weeks starting in late September 2007, with the final set returning around October 21.^{[citation needed]} Amtrak resumed its regular Cascades service pattern with its October 29, 2007 Fall schedule change.

Funding

Funding for the route is provided separately by the states of Oregon and Washington, with Union Station in Portland serving as the dividing point between the two. As of July 1, 2006, Washington state has funded four daily round trips between Seattle and Portland. Washington also funds two daily round trips between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. Oregon funds two daily round trips between Eugene and Portland. The five trainsets are organized into semi-regular operating cycles, but no particular train always has one route.

Local partnerships

As a result of Cascades service being jointly funded by the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation, public transit agencies and local municipalities can offer a variety of discounts, including companion ticket coupons.

• FlexPass and University of Washington UPass holders receive a 15% discount (discount code varies) on all regular Cascades travel. Employers participating in these programs may also receive a limited number of free companion ticket coupons for distribution to employees.
• The Sound Transit RailPlus program allows riders to use weekday Cascades trains between Everett and Seattle with the Sounder commuter rail fare structure.

The Cascades service also benefits from Sound Transit's track upgrades for Sounder service, notably the upcoming Point Defiance Bypass project.

Proposed changes

According to its long-range plan, the WSDOT Rail Office plans eventual service of 13 daily round trips between Seattle and Portland and 4-6 round trips between Seattle and Bellingham, with four of those extending to Vancouver, BC. Amtrak Cascades travels along the entirety of the proposed Pacific Northwest High Speed Rail Corridor; the incremental improvements are designed to result in eventual higher speed service. According to WSDOT, the "hundreds of curves" in the current route and the cost of acquiring land and constructing a brand new route" make upgrades so cost-prohibitive that at most speeds of 110 mph (177 km/h) can be achieved.

The eventual high speed rail service is planned to result in the following travel times:

• Seattle to Portland – 3:30 (2006); 3:20 (2017, assuming completion of Point Defiance bypass); 2:30 (planned)
• Seattle to Vancouver BC – 3:55 (2006); 2:45 (planned)
• Vancouver BC to Portland – 7:55 (2009); 5:25 (planned)

In order to increase train speeds and frequency to meet these goals, a number of incremental track improvement projects must be completed. Gates and signals must be improved, some grade crossings must be separated, some track must be replaced or upgraded and station capacities must be increased. In order to extend the second daily Seattle to Bellingham round trip to Vancouver, BNSF was required to make track improvements in Canada, to which the government of British Columbia was asked to contribute financially. On March 1, 2007, an agreement between the province, Amtrak, and BNSF was reached, allowing a second daily train to and from Vancouver. The project involved the construction of an 11,000-foot (3.35 km) siding in Delta, BC at a cost of US$7 million; construction started in mid-2007 and now has been completed.

In December 2008, WSDOT published a mid-range plan detailing projects needed to achieve the midpoint level of service proposed in the long-range plan. WSDOT is applying for $900 million in high speed rail stimulus funds for projects discussed in the mid-range plan, since the corridor is one of the approved high speed corridors eligible for money from ARRA. Depending on federal grant awards, the timetable of any of the following projects may speed up.

Additionally, in summer 2009, Oregon applied for a $2.1 billion Federal grant to redevelop the unused Oregon Electric Railway tracks, parallel to the Cascades' route between Eugene and Portland, to enable more passenger trains and higher speeds. As of 2012, most of the projects have either started or completed, enabling more frequent, reliable service and faster speeds on the Cascades.

Vancouver to Seattle projects

Swift Customs Facility

• Adds a siding to allow freight trains to move off the mainline for Customs inspections; increases reliability for Vancouver to Seattle trains.
• Construction began in July 2008 and was completed in October 2009.

Bellingham Waterfront Redevelopment Project

• Relocates 0.75 miles (1.21 km) of BNSF track to avoid the current sharp curve.
• Would increase passenger train speeds above 30 mph.
• Work on the track relocation started on 2009 and was finished in 2011.

Mt. Vernon siding upgrade

• Adds a siding to allow southbound trains from Bellingham to pass northbound trains from Seattle; allows for earlier southbound departure.
• Closes the grade crossing at Hickox Road.
• Construction began in March 2005; siding upgrade is completed but siding extension is delayed until 2008 but has now been completed as of 2012.

Stanwood siding upgrade/repair

• Lengthens and repairs siding to ensure freight trains are accommodated; increases reliability for Vancouver and Bellingham to Seattle trains.
• Construction began in February 2008 with and is now completed.

Everett PA Junction and Delta Yard Realignment

• Realigns sharp curves to increase passenger train speeds from 30 mph to 50 mph, resulting in a two-minute time savings to Bellingham and Vancouver.
• Upgrades warning and crossing equipment to improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles at Pacific/Chestnut crossing and Railroad Avenue crossing.
• Construction started as of 2011.

King Street Station track improvements

• Allows more trains to access the station at one time.
• Prevents passenger trains traveling between the service yard and the station from having to cross the mainlines.
• Construction began in October 2006 with expected completion of phase 2 in early 2012.

Seattle to Portland projects

With the completion of these three projects, WSDOT projects to have an additional two round trips added daily between Portland and Seattle by late 2017.

Point Defiance Bypass

Map of Point Defiance Bypass.

• Partnership with Sound Transit to bypass BNSF Railway Puget Sound shore track for an alignment between Tacoma at the north end and the Nisqually River at the south.
• Increases train speeds in this corridor with a straighter track alignment.
• Eliminates the need for Cascades trains to use the single-track Nelson Bennett Tunnel
• First phase decreases travel time through the corridor by 6 minutes; second phase decreases travel time by at least another 5 minutes.
• Sound Transit construction of the line between Tacoma and Lakewood was completed in 2012 after feasibility studies, design work and acquisition of land had begun in 2005. The first phase of construction began in June 2009; by that time the completion date had been pushed back to 2019. In 2010, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided additional funding for the project, enough to bring the completion date forward to 2016.

Kelso-Martin's Bluff rail project

• Constructs new sidings totaling 10 miles (16 km) between Kelso and Martin's Bluff, Washington, near Woodland.
• The project will cost $199 million, and was funded by a grant as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grant was announced in 2010, but was not assured until an agreement between the state, the Federal Railroad Administration and BNSF was reached in late February 2011.
• Construction is scheduled to begin around 2013 with a required completion date by 2017 under the terms of the federal grant.

Vancouver Rail Project

• Constructs a double-tracked bypass alignment to decrease freight congestion and to increase passenger train reliability.
• Constructs a crossing over the tracks at W. 39th St, increasing vehicle and pedestrian safety (Completed).
• Construction began mid-2009 with an anticipated completion date in 2017.

High-speed crossovers

These projects allow trains to switch mainlines at higher speed, reducing time lost when passing another train.

• Titlow (Tacoma) – completed in 2005
• Centennial (Lacey) – completed in 2007
• Tenino - completed in 2009
• Chehalis – construction expected to begin in 2014 with completion in 2015^{[citation needed]}
• Newaukum – construction expected to begin in 2014 with completion in 2015^{[citation needed]}
• Winlock – completed in 2007

Grade separations

These projects remove a crossing by creating either a rail or road bridge, allowing for higher train speeds and the best possible crossing safety.

• S. Lander Street (Seattle)
• Royal Brougham SR 519 Phase 2 (Seattle) This project has already been completed in 2010.
• S. 212th Street (Kent)
• Willis Street (Kent)

Ridership statistics

Data from the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Year	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Ridership	94,061	180,209	286,656	304,566	349,761	425,138	452,334	530,218	560,381	584,346
YoY Diff.	N/A	86,148	106,447	17,910	45,195	75,377	27,196	77,884	30,163	23,965
YoY Diff. %	N/A	91.6%	59.1%	6.2%	14.8%	21.6%	6.4%	17.2%	5.7%	4.3%
Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Ridership	589,743	603,059	636,092	629,996	676,765	774,531	761,610	838,251	847,709	845,099
YoY Diff.	5,397	13,316	33,033	-6,096	46,769	97,766	-12,921	76,641	9,458
YoY Diff. %	0.1%	2.3%	5.5%	-1.0%	7.4%	14.4%	-1.7%	10.1%	1.1%

See also

• United States border preclearance
• Rail transportation in the United States
• Rail transport in Canada

References

Specific references:

General references:

• Washington State Department of Transportation Rail Page Retrieved September 19, 2005
• 2005 Washington State Transportation Tax Package Retrieved September 19, 2005
• WSDOT December 2005 Quarterly Project Report for PA Junction Curve Realignments and Delta Yard Storage Tracks Retrieved March 3, 2006

External links

• Amtrak - Amtrak Cascades (Amtrak official site)
• Amtrak Cascades (Amtrak Cascades official site)
• Amtrak Cascades Train Equipment (Washington State Department of Transportation)