Pacific Northwest service expansions

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TC_NYC

Service Attendant
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
153
Location
Tri-Cities, Washington
I'm going to be doing a lot of travel between Pasco, WA and Seattle in the upcoming years and unfortunately the only options are taking a long train ride via Portland or Spokane (involving an overnight change of trains) or making the long 4 hour drive.

I did some reading online about the BNSF stampede subdivision which is an active line running Pasco to Seattle. Has there been any developments about it being reactivated for passenger rail? Certainly would fit my needs and seems it would fill a critical link in the area.
 
Short answer is "no."

As far as current service, technically you don't have to go all the way to Portland...you could force a connection in Vancouver, WA by using the multi-city option or purchasing separate tickets. But with the EB's unreliability, as well as the general lack of station amenities in Vancouver, that wouldn't really be a great choice...and even in the best case scenario, it still takes all day to get to Seattle from Pasco.

Not sure how you feel about flying, but I'm sure you're aware that Alaska and Delta both fly Pasco-SEA non-stop, and that the competition keeps fares somewhat reasonably. Might be a good choice during the winter when Snoqualmie Pass gets dicey.

For that matter, Greyhound will take you there for under $40 and only a handful of en route stops. Of course, that depends on your tolerance for bus travel, as well as whether or not having your own vehicle in Seattle is a positive or a negative.
 
There has been some discussion of some kind of cross-state service via Stampede Pass over the years. Nothing concrete has come from it and initiation of service would be least a few years away even if a firm decision by WashDOT to do it were made today. And such a decision is not remotely close.

Also, Stampede does not have and is not currently required to have PTC, due to low traffic density. Even if the Anderson at Amtrak accepts full out exemptions, which at this point they are skittish about to say the least, there are no circumstances where WashDOT would accept operating over PTC exempt track after the wreck at Nisqually last December. So there's that.

So, no, not happening anytime soon, like any time within the next 10 years, at least.

BTW, fairview's observation about Snoqualmie Pass is accurate. It can get quite dicey and also gets closed with some frequency.
 
And (though the airport layout *ahem* "leaves something to be desired" in this respect) you can take the light rail downtown from the airport if you so desire.

(I usually just get a car...the walk to the light rail station is the equivalent of 2-3 blocks in downtown, I think.)
 
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