Railroad Forums 

  • Colorado DMU for real or Demo only

  • Discussion about RDC's, "doodlebugs," gas-electrics, etc.
Discussion about RDC's, "doodlebugs," gas-electrics, etc.

 #109277  by railfanofewu
 
I can say with absolute certainty, that the Portland-Astoria route will not continue after this year, and certainly would never exist with Amtrak owned DMUs.

As for a Washington cross-state train, I think Washington really likes the Talgos, and since Seattle-Spokane or Portland-Spokane is about eight hours in length, that'd be one cramped DMU ride.[/quote]

ODOT owns the right of way that those trains use, they should invest in it, for both train service to Astoria, and who knows, make Astoria a port that could relive pressure on Portland.

In Eastern Washington, I have been posting on local news boards that we need to bridge the gap between East and West, and the train is the way to do it. I think once track upgrades are done on the west side, Amtrak and WSDoT get a few Talgo XXIs, and a few more Talgo TPUs. The Talgo TPUs could be used for Eastern Washington Service, and DMUs used on three branch lines that have little or no bus service.

Pullman-Spokane=2 round trips on Northwestern Trailways, state now owns the Palouse River and Coulee City. Upgrade tracks for 90 MPH would be the idea, and use the CRC DMU on that one for Passenger Service.

Wenatchee-Okanagon Valley= 1 Round Trip(monday-Friday) Northwestern Trailways.

Pasco-Walla Walla=Greyhound dropped the route completely. Serves two major Eastern Washington population centers.

 #109779  by wigwagfan
 
railfanofewu wrote:ODOT owns the right of way that those trains use, they should invest in it, for both train service to Astoria, and who knows, make Astoria a port that could relive pressure on Portland.
The only reason the railroad is still there is because there are various groups still trying to make Astoria a port for ocean-going vessels that currently travel up the Columbia River to Portland/Vancouver. Despite that, there has been no traffic west of Knappa - except the Lewis & Clark Explorer Train.

The rails within the town of Astoria are now used by the Riverfront Trolley, so the "freight" railroad ends just east of downtown Astoria, near the old SP&S depot. The Washington Corporation (owner of Montana RailLink) owns the former Tongue Point naval base and is trying to re-develop it, but only a few light industries have located there - none of which use either the docks or the railroad.

From a passenger perspective, Astoria has several bus lines serving it already and two major highways. Horizon Air has tried to fly there but couldn't generate traffic. The railroad is too slow (and its location in some places makes it difficult to upgrade for higher speeds - plus, the maintenance would make a passenger operation horrendously expensive, and Astoria has a population around 10,000 people - not worth it.) There have been numerous mudslides on the route, and Portland & Western RR has spent several thousand dollars to reopen the route, and even ran a ceremonial "first train" to Astoria...but without traffic, the line will probably be abandoned and turned into a State Park. I don't want to speculate on a timeframe, but I would say 2006 will be the make or break year.

A more realistic scenario would be commuter trains from St. Helens to Portland - but U.S. 30 is five lanes wide the entire way, the highway is well under capacity (congestion is not an issue), and there are busses running the route as well.

 #117733  by railfanofewu
 
wigwagfan wrote:
A more realistic scenario would be commuter trains from St. Helens to Portland - but U.S. 30 is five lanes wide the entire way, the highway is well under capacity (congestion is not an issue), and there are busses running the route as well.
I would like to see the DMU used in Commuter and Regional Service up here on several corridors in both the Portland and Seattle/Central Puget Sound Metro Area. Supposedly Colorado Railcar is working on some improvements to both the single and double-deck models. I have been proposing that the DMU be used to pull the Everett Sounder train, in place of the Locomotive.