Looks like the Cascades will be seeing faster and service:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportatio ... this-fall/
http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportatio ... this-fall/
WSDOT will start spending its federal high-speed rail money this fall when construction begins on new tracks to improve Amtrak Cascades service.
WSDOT signed an agreement Thursday with BNSF Railway that “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,” WSDOT announced in a news release.
WSDOT will start with about $400 million of the $781 million it received in high-speed rail stimulus money from the Federal Railroad Administration.
Here’s more from WSDOT:
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.
The agreement allows BNSF to move forward on projects, worth nearly $400 million, that are expected to generate 1,000 jobs through 2017. The first rail-improvement project will occur in Everett, where two new tracks will be built for freight trains entering the rail terminal, taking them out of the way of oncoming passenger trains. These added tracks will eliminate a substantial rail-yard bottleneck and the work is expected to support about 30 local jobs.
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