All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

Vincent wrote:Despite the problems, on/offs in Vancouver BC increased by 46.8% over 2009.

The big question will be whether the ridership bump caused by the Winter Olympics will hold steady or not...

WSDOT sent out announcement regarding the 11 extra trains for the Thanksgiving weekend. Nothing unusual except for this paragraph:

New this year, rail passengers can take a Thanksgiving Eve redeye train with express service to Portland from Seattle. The train will depart at midnight and arrive nonstop in Portland at 4:14 am.

Actually, the train departs at 2359 and it's kind of hard to imagine how a train that takes 45 minutes longer than a Talgo can be called an "express", but there it is. I think this is more of a positioning move than anything else and as long as there needs to be a conductor on board, they might as well sell a few tickets.

Agreement signed for $590 million in improvements originally announced January 2010.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/116984463.html

After 13 months, Washington State has gotten all of their paperwork and host railroad agreements worked out to the FRA's satisfaction.

Many more details of the work at http://tdn.com/news/local/article_00156 ... 002e0.html .

Construction will begin with capitalized maintenance, include 10 miles of siding between Kelso and Martin's Bluff, a bypass of Point Defiance and PTC.

While I was up in BC a few weeks earlier this month, I was chatting with a good friend of mine who was telling me he's been hearing rumblings of possibly reviving the idea of moving the Vancouver terminus of the Cascades to New Westminster.

I know this idea was being toyed around during 2005-2006, but it never got anywhere. The idea was that they would build a stub terminal near or at the New Westminster SkyTrain station and it would be a full US Pre-Clearance station doing not just Immigration checks in Canada, but also full inspections much like at YVR.

Washington state has applied for $120 million of the $2.4 billion rejected by the state of Florida.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2011/04/04 ... cation.htm

The Florida-related funding has more stringent “readiness” requirements, narrowing the list of projects eligible for consideration. Projects in WSDOT’s application are primarily for environmental and engineering work to stabilize hillsides, add capacity to reduce conflicts with freight, and replace an aging trestle. All projects funded by the ARRA rail grants must be completed by September 2017.

The Cascades service has seen several cancellations this year due to slides. Unfortunately, the grant application only covers engineering and planning for the unstable slopes, not construction.

Let's see, what are the environmental tradeoffs?

If we fix the unstable slopes in good weather, delicate plants can be relocated to similar slopes or replanted to minimize the impact to the environment.

If we do nothing and then fix the unstable slopes under emergency conditions in bad weather after a slide, all of the vegetation in the slide area is lost.

Now, let's spend millions of dollars and 18 to 24 months on an Environmental Assessment that meets the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act to come to that conclusion.

(Not that I'd not want to get paid for preparing the NEPA document, but the public's time and money are better spent on final design and construction.)

Improvements on their way?

http://www.ncwtv.com/news/local/Rail-ag ... 05268.html

Olympia, WA) An agreement signed today by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and BNSF Railway clears the way for work to begin on rail improvements that ultimately will generate hundreds of jobs and improve Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle and Portland.

Today’s agreement means the state can begin initial work this fall using some of the $781 million in federal grants awarded to Washington in the past two years. This money is part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) high-speed-rail grants administered by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Building bypass tracks and making upgrades to existing tracks shared by Amtrak and BNSF will result in faster and more reliable Amtrak Cascades service while also allowing BNSF the ability to provide world-class freight rail service. The ARRA money will also be used to purchase new locomotives and passenger coaches.

That will only reduce delays caused by freight. Three weeks ago, I was on SB 506 from VAC The main issue is north of the Canadian border. From Van Pac Central, we had to manually flip a switch, then slow down for the Fraser River bridge, waited for dispatch to clear us on the other side of the river, slow orders on the White Rock tressles and the slow section from White Rock to Blaine, plus waiting at the border. Also we were running late due to those so we had to wait on the siding north of Mount Vernon So what needs to be done
1) Automatic switches into Pac Central
2) Increase speeds from Commercial Broadway onward
3) Replace the River Bridge
4) High-speed track from the River to Bellingham
5) South Bellingham-Mount Vernon high-speed track
6) Mount Vernon-Marysville high-speed track
7) Double-track Marysville-Everett (try to expand Sounder service north)
8) Replace Snohomish River Bridge and associated curves

Most of these are outlined in the long-range plan which we will be about 3 years behind schedule in implementing. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/AE ... scades.pdf

That I think would easily reduce travel times by 30-45 minutes heading to Vancouver.

That's a great summary of the work, Hammer. It still sounds like a great project and useful allocation of dollars.

I remember there was some talk that went nowhere about moving the Cascades Vancouver terminus to New Westminster around the Sapperton Skytrain station; the idea was that it would shave about 45 minutes off the running time and make moves across the bridge at the Fraiser River easier somehow because it doesn't have to go as far. The station would have full US CBP operations; meaning both Immigration and Customs inspections will occur; not just Immigration which occurs now.

That proposal is still on the table, but I fear that would errode ridership as Pac Central is currently more centrally located. If commuter rail to White Rock and Langley happens, they will have to upgrade the infrastructure anyways. Might as well just get it said and done and heavily expand the rails north of the border.

MCHammer wrote:That proposal is still on the table, but I fear that would errode ridership as Pac Central is currently more centrally located. If commuter rail to White Rock and Langley happens, they will have to upgrade the infrastructure anyways. Might as well just get it said and done and heavily expand the rails north of the border.

The West Coast Express to White Rock would be pretty nice, but thats a topic for another fourm.

Its hard to say if me if ridership would change based upon moving the terminal to New Westminster; I think it might stay the same because New Westminster is not too far off from Vancouver proper both physically and culturally. There's also not really another good place to put in a new terminal in all of Metro Vancouver other than New West I can think of; maybe Richmond if there is lucky planning.

Though I am a bit biased because the few times I have done the Cascades to VAC; I ended up doublebacking via SkyTrain to New West.

AgentSkelly wrote:I remember there was some talk that went nowhere about moving the Cascades Vancouver terminus to New Westminster around the Sapperton Skytrain station; the idea was that it would shave about 45 minutes off the running time and make moves across the bridge at the Fraiser River easier somehow because it doesn't have to go as far. The station would have full US CBP operations; meaning both Immigration and Customs inspections will occur; not just Immigration which occurs now.

Why would it save 45 minutes? The distance is not great to the present terminal.

I think 30 minutes is a more realistic estimate depending on how long you wait for the bridge. The bridge has a 10 mph speed restriction on it, once off of there, you speed up through Burnaby. Then there is the wait at Pac Central for the flipping of the switches to get in. I think if those two issues were eliminated, that would reduce some signficiant delays and reduce travel times.

Looks like the second daily trip to Vancouver is safe for now: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-news ... -3415.html

Canadian Minister for Public Safety Vic Toews said Tuesday in a press interview, “Upon careful review of the business case and despite some significant financial constraints, the Canada Border Services Agency has decided that it will continue to provide publicly funded border clearance service to Amtrak’s second daily train.”