All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

Wil the genies also recieve PTC?

Amtrak is installing the I-ETMS PTC on the active P-40's/P-42's, and testing on the Sounder transit Sub where that wreck happened.
The BNSF line has the PTC up and working,Unknown is if the WSDOT/ORDOT owned Chargers have factory installed I-ETMS gear.

A mudslide near White Rock British Columbia has affected the line the Cascades use to serve Vancouver.

I suppose if one really wanted to bother with a slow diversion you could re-route via Sumas?

Would it even be worthwhile to go the ex-NP via Sumas, rather than short-turn on the ex-GN at the border and get a Canadian coach bus?

If those are our standards it's hardly worthwhile to not turn the whole dang train into a coach bus, given travel time

New HSR topic Cascadia Rail: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=169084" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My apologies as I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere but I can't really go sifting through all the pages. I understand border formalities are largely taken care of in Vancouver, correct? Obviously for inbound this is simple as it's Canadian soil so Canadian immigration can just be there. But how about for southbound? Does US immigration actually conduct their formalities at Vancouver station or is that something that would not be possible given it's in another country? I'm curious because allowing border formalities to happen for both countries at Vancouver could be a model for other cities like Detroit (as an end point for Toronto service), Montreal (as an end point for NYC and Boston service) or Monterrey (as an end point for Houston/Dallas service).

US Customs has a deal where the track that the Cascade service uses in Vancouver BC is fenced in and all the US customs formalities can be done
before the train heads south to the US. That fenced in track and platform is considered US "soil".

The plan is to do the same at Montreal Central station, a fenced in track and platform for Amtrak's Adirondak(and Montrealer in the near future).
Believe all the needed treaties are in order and approved in the US and Canada,just need to be built now.

The Maple Leaf is a different case as it turns at the border into a VIA train to/from Toronto with VIA T&E and OBS crews.
Amtrak's T&E,OBS crews run it to/from New York Penn

Thank you, I just wasn't sure what level of US immigration formalities were performed in Vancouver. That's awesome to hear and I'd heard about those plans for Montreal which is wonderful (will that also mean elimination of the one stop between MTL and the border?). That means lines with a single station in a foreign country could easily be set up under the same scheme (as I mentioned, Toronto-Detroit, Texas-Monterrey, etc). Understood about the Maple Leaf, but I'm wondering if, with GO trying to extend out to Niagara Falls, it wouldn't maybe be possible to schedule an express GO train to Niagara Falls to replace the intra-Canada portion of the Maple Leaf and allow the Maple Lead to make only 2 stops in Canada (Niagara Falls ON and Toronto). OR, and I'm not as keen on this idea, but VIA operate a Toronto-Buffalo service that is timed to meet the Maple Leaf at Buffalo (with border formalities performed at Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY)....I apologize for taking us a bit off topic.

Another thing, with the Port Defiance bypass coming back eventually, why not a stop by the military base. It's one of the largest in the nation and I'd imagine it would generate a decent amount of ridership (not to mention serving bases where possible ought to be part of the national transportation network).

NIMBYkiller wrote:why not a stop by the military base. It's one of the largest in the nation and I'd imagine it would generate a decent amount of ridership (not to mention serving bases where possible ought to be part of the national transportation network).

1. JBLM is a major logistics center and a homebase for a large fleet of C-17s. If the Army or Air Force needs to move, the last thing they are going to do is try to book whatever remaining seats on whatever remaining Talgo sets there are when they have plenty of air lift capability available.

2. The next nearest military bases are the various Navy installations along Puget Sound (only one of which, Naval Station Everett, has similar Amtrak proximity, but I doubt there is much of a need for personnel transport between the Army/Air Force and the Navy facilities), and likely don't have a large amount of base to base commuting.

3. The next nearest Army facility is in Yakima, where Amtrak doesn't come close to.

4. The next nearest Air Force facility is in Spokane, which is a "once-a-day" Amtrak city.

5. There are no major military installations in Oregon whatsoever.

6. I doubt the Department of Defense really wants to rely on Amtrak to move troops efficiently between JBLM and other major military installations in California or elsewhere.

7. If you really wanted to address traffic congestion on I-5 near JBLM, Amtrak isn't the vehicle to address it. You need better local transit to serve the troops and airmen who live off-base or want to do business off-base. Amtrak, again, doesn't serve that need at all. Pierce Transit, on the other hand, does (and has bus routes that serve the base).

^ ???

Quantico VA (like the other bases in the Southeast) is a successful stop because like any residential & employment center, it generates lots of trips for lots of reasons.

Military and inter-base logistics has NEVER been what makes or unmakes a train stop near a big base.

Rather it is plain old "lots of people needing to be elsewhere" and also vendor trips:

JBLM has more than 25,000 soldiers and civilian workers. The post supports over 120,000 military retirees and more than 29,000 family members living both on and off post.

it should have a stop just like any other town of 50,000 to 100,000 prosperous, car-lite households full of people with affinities elsewhere.

That Base is Sounder's problem to bring service to ,Not Amtrak's. That base most likely has local bus transit with LIMITED stops in that base,
and NO weekend service inside the base.

I definitely was not suggesting adding the stop for troop movements or anything of the sort. As Arlington mentioned, bases are just natural generators of trips being that it's a concentrated population (much like universities, although the dynamic is completely different) center with various reasons for people leaving the base or visiting the base. Yes, local transit should be serving it, but just like with Quantico, you have folks coming from/going to well outside the commuter zone.