All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Wed Jul 03, 2024 5:57 am If they gave a damn about the equipment, they'd stay away from the Talgos because Shortcut Accident. We have too many threads to point to over the accident near Seattle and how badly the Talgos performed there, the ban on the equipment at the state level, and their final destination. I'm not up to rehashing that.

This is the most baseless claim of the decade here.

Airplanes are not built for passengers to survive a plane falling out of the sky at hundreds of miles per hour. The standards of commercial flight and maintenance are such that there should be no planes falling out of the sky, so planes are not built to survive a crash from altitude.

The Talgo crash also shouldn't have happened. Full stop. There was inadequate training on a new route and the engineer broke the speed limit. For some reason we still continue to build trains to a crash survival strength standard promulgated by the post office in pre-1920 times in order to preserve the mail in event of a crash. Do some deep digging, this is where our crash survival strength numbers come from. Not a modern scientific study (and by modern I mean the era of diesel engines, steel passenger cars, polio survival, microwave ovens, the internet, plastics, my grandparents being born...)

by David Benton » Thu Jul 04, 2024 12:36 am
Does your average rider remember it was Talgo equipment in the crash, or even what equipment is what.?

No he probably doesn't.

On a different related topic, and yes, I've read a bit above pre-pandemic... my Bostonian friend is wondering (as she's modeling a Cascades HSR) about putting a station at Blaine next to US Customs. As she says, "It's meant to serve as a general checkpoint for all international rail services in the area."

But I get the feeling that she doesn't know current operations.

So what actually goes on at the border on the Cascades? I didn't see a pad or any real station along the border near Peace Arch in Blaine, WS, so... I'm wondering who has cross the border here and can remember if they stop the train at the border itself, and how per-clearance worked from Seattle north.

I don't know how it works now, but the plan is that customs facilities is built at the Vancouver BC station so that passenger disembarking from the US go through Canadian customs after leaving the train, and passengers traveling to the US go through customs before boarding the train.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2024 7:38 am So what actually goes on at the border on the Cascades? I didn't see a pad or any real station along the border near Peace Arch in Blaine, WS, so... I'm wondering who has cross the border here and can remember if they stop the train at the border itself, and how per-clearance worked from Seattle north.

Amtrak makes sure you have your passport in the US, then you take the train all the way to Vancouver. On the train, you fill out your forms, then you do all your border process at Pacific Central, off the train.

The way back into the US, you fill out your forms at Pacific Central, they stop at the border for 10-15 minutes to collect forms and walk the train, then you are on your way again.