All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

electricron wrote:Here is the latest 2019 report from WDOT, you might find it an interesting read.
2020 This $895,000 study was funded by approximate equal contributions from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Microsoft Corp...Did you catch that Microsoft is pushing for the HSR train with its own money?

Microsoft isn't interested in spending its own money - after all, it has the money, itself, to build the proposed HSR line. Why isn't it just doing it?

Also, when Microsoft can't see fit to pay its fair share of taxes but now wants taxpayers to foot a luxury transportation mode for its workers...yeah, they can go pound sand. I'm waiting for Boeing to shut itself out of Washington considering that the state government seems to have no love at all for the one company that puts the entire Puget Sound region on the map.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/m ... -15-years/

wigwagfan wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:18 pm

David Benton wrote: ↑Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:52 amYet they manage in far more crowded europe and japan.

And had Washington State built High Speed Rail in the 1960s and 1970s it would have been far more feasible, but it isn't 1960 anymore, it's 2021. There's a lot more people. There's a lot more environmental awareness. And we didn't drop a couple nukes on downtown Seattle or send hundreds of B-17s over downtown Portland.

This is about the most historyless and utterly irrelevant comment I've seen in a long time.
Nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Neither of which are on the immediate network of high speed rail that started to be built out in the late 1960's - decades after the two cities were long rebuilt and so were other badly bomb damaged Japanese cities.
Likewise in Europe - Noone in 1945 were thinking high speed rail - they were just scrambling to repair what was before, and when high speed rail did get on the agenda from the 1980's no bomb scars were left. (the sole real exception is Berlin, where the wall strip had kept the scars intact)
Instead most high speed trains run on existing tracks the last miles into the cities, but there has been a will to set aside land for new alignments in the countryside with some expensive tunneling added here and there.
Neither bombings nor geography is the difference. Political will is.

For now the Taglo VII is running on train 500/505 rt.except for teething issues with the SC-44's,then the Horizon set covers,there is rare use of a P-42 as power in a pinch.
Sets of 11 and 14 have seen the return a View II bags in consist

Microsoft isn't interested in spending its own money - after all, it has the money, itself, to build the proposed HSR line. Why isn't it just doing it?

"It looks like I'm going to be late for the meeting; the train is sitting in Bellingham and they can't get it to move. The conductor says the engineer's screen says 'Installing updates' and it's been like that for the last hour and a half..."

BNSF has "automated" the Dispatch with something referred to as "Movement planner" tends to screw up GTB's issued to the trip and PTC systems
The entire Seattle Sub is littered with MOW CREWS all over the place.

Just booked my fist Cascades trip for this summer as part of my honeymoon. Going from SEA to PDX on 505 on a Sunday. Should I expect a Talgo set?

Also does anyone have any experience using the new BidUp system to upgrade to business class? Were you successful and how much did you bid?

wigwagfan wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:02 pm I'm waiting for Boeing to shut itself out of Washington considering that the state government seems to have no love at all for the one company that puts the entire Puget Sound region on the map.

The feeling is mutual ever since Boeing merged with M-D and moved to Chicago. And builds a lot airplanes in leave-spare-parts-in-the-fuseleage South Carolina. It is no longer an engineering-first company. Don't know about Microsoft. Amazon is.

To be fair, I can see reasons Boeing would want out of the Puget Sound. But the results have not been great. Having only one competitor in airliners has contributed to making it work. The defense sector is consolidated too.

kitchin wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:48 pm The feeling is mutual ever since Boeing merged with M-D and moved to Chicago. And builds a lot airplanes in leave-spare-parts-in-the-fuseleage South Carolina. It is no longer an engineering-first company. Don't know about Microsoft. Amazon is.

To be fair, I can see reasons Boeing would want out of the Puget Sound. But the results have not been great. Having only one competitor in airliners has contributed to making it work. The defense sector is consolidated too.

Microsoft is a mixed bag. They not only do software engineering but also some hardware (XBox One, Surface, keyboards and mice, webcams, etc). Funding trains? Forget it. They take out loans every so often, so I doubt they really have the cash on-hand. The only tech company I know that actually has cash on hand on the level of building their own infrastructure is Apple, and they built their own HQ (the "spaceship" in Cupertino).

Amazon? Maybe. Depends on how their finances are. But remember they're doing another HQ down in Crystal City, VA.

A long time ago, I know Microsoft had a "think tank" team that tried to tackle what was described as "sociological and governmental problems" if I remember the PR departments words right, the intial project was approaching AIDS like it was software...I have a feeling they tackled this...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investo ... nce-sheets

$17.2 BILLION in cash and cash equivalents
$120.7 BILLION in short-term investments

Microsoft has the cash, or the ability to get cash in a very quick manner, to build THREE "Cascadia HSR" routes, and that's not including their day to day business.

If Microsoft can't be bothered to put up, this project needs to shut up. Taxpayers in Omak, Colfax and Walla Walla shouldn't be used as pawns for the rich Microsoft folk who can easily afford to pay for their pet project so that a few select software engineers can bypass the border crossing at Blaine while the rest of us are being turned away from the border by the RCMP.

On May 15-16, Sound Transit, in partnership with WSDOT and Amtrak, will run trains on the Point Defiance Bypass for Crew Qualifications/Simulated Service. Trains will run from Tacoma Dome station to the Nisqually Junction. Testing will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days with trains running at speeds up to 79 mph

https://www.amtrakcascades.com/Crew-Qua ... -May-15-16

Martin Baumann wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 4:00 pm On May 15-16, Sound Transit, in partnership with WSDOT and Amtrak, will run trains on the Point Defiance Bypass for Crew Qualifications/Simulated Service. Trains will run from Tacoma Dome station to the Nisqually Junction. Testing will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days with trains running at speeds up to 79 mph

https://www.amtrakcascades.com/Crew-Qua ... -May-15-16

I think crew training and familiarization runs should also be done at night as well. I take it PTC is now in service to protect the 30 MPH S curve over I-5?

Anybody know more about these failures, yesterday, June 13th? [Info from Amtrak twitter]

Due to ongoing mechanical issues, Train 505 will return to Seattle (SEA) where passengers will be transferred to different equipment. We will update as more information becomes available.

Amtrak Cascades Train 505 has departed Seattle (SEA) and is currently operating approximately 3hrs 30mins late.

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Coast Starlight Train 11 that departed Seattle (SEA) on 6/13 is currently stopped south of Eugene (EUG) due to ongoing mechanical issues. Updates to follow as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Due to ongoing mechanical issues Coast Starlight Train 11 that departed Seattle (SEA) on 6/13 has reversed back to Eugene (EUG) where it is currently stopped. Updates to follow as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Due to ongoing mechanical issues Coast Starlight Train 11 that departed Seattle (SEA) on 6/13 is now on the move currently operating approximately 10hr 40min late.

Major issues on the CS. Currently the train that departed 6/13 is 11hr10min late...

Did they have a forest fire?