Vancouver, Seattle and Portland mayors support push for HSR

Vancouver, Seattle and Portland sign pact to push for high-speed rail; Mayor hosts meeting with top rail leaders (City of Vancouver, BC)

June 9, 2010 - Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Portland Mayor Sam Adams have signed a protocol agreement that will unite the three major cities in the push to secure a high-speed railway service through the Pacific Northwest region.

Checking on the Washington State Department of Transportation's site, I find these pages:
WSDOT - ARRA Funded High Speed Passenger Rail
WSDOT - Project Index List (Rail)
The Sounder commuter trains also use the tracks that Amtrak's Cascades use:
Sound Transit Projects: Sounder Track and Signal Improvement Projects

Everett:
WSDOT - Project - Rail - Everett - Curve Realignments and Storage Tracks
Sound Transit Projects: Seattle-to-Everett Track & Signal Upgrades
These projects are under construction.

Tacoma:
WSDOT - Project - Rail - Tacoma - Bypass of Point Defiance
Sound Transit Projects: D-to-M Streets Track and Signal Work
Sound Transit Projects: M Street to Lakewood Track and Signal
Tacoma Tomorrow: WSDOT announces funding for D-M St. & Pt. Defiance Bypass
The D-to-M-Sts project should start construction this summer, while the M-St-to-Lakewood project is now under construction. When the projects are complete, Cascades trains can go through Lakewood instead of Point Defiance, thus saving about 15 minutes or so and avoiding conflicts with BNSF trains. This will permit more trains, thus more service.

There are some additional projects of this nature, designed for speeding up the slowest parts rather than increasing the route's maximum possible speed. Several other US HSR projects are like that. Not exactly Eurasian high-speed lines, but better than nothing.

Screeeech! That's the sound of brakes being applied to the Pt. Defiance project. Can you smell the smoke? WSDOT is putting a happy face on the delay, but the story is that 2 communities on the route are worried about 79 mph trains endangering the safety of their citizens and the FRA is requiring that the environmental studies completed in 2006 be re-done in accordance with FRA standards before ARRA money will be released. The previous studies were done in accordance with the standards of the FHWA, but now that FRA holds the purse strings, the environmental work has to be re-done to meet the standards of the FRA. WSDOT is hoping to complete the environmental work in early 2011 and have approval in time to begin construction in 2012 with trains rolling in 2014 or 2015.

Does it really matter if a mayor "pushes for HSR?" After all, these municipalities aren't in any position to fund HSR, although they are more than willing to accept the benefits of Federal funds. As far as Vancouver, it is still located in BC, which to the best of knowledge is still in Canada.

Amazing the way politicians try to put a new face on what are basically speeded-up conventional railways. Better than nothing, I suppose, but not by much. Someone should clue them in to the fact that HSR starts at speeds over 125 mph, and heavily fine any politician misusing the term. HSR includes none of these proposals. And my favorite line was "2 communities on the route are worried about 79 mph trains endangering the safety of their citizens". Why would 79 mph trains be any more dangerous than 60 mph or even 20 mph trains? Fact is if you're stupid enough to drive around crossing gates you're going to bear the brunt of the damage in any train-automobile collision, regardless of how fast the train is going. The stupidity of the general public, and the politicians they elect, never ceases to amaze me.

As far as Vancouver, it is still located in BC, which to the best of knowledge is still in Canada.

But it anchors the northern end of a string of cities that form a significant population base, irregardless of national boundaries, so it's in their interest to cooperate on something that may provide economic benefit.

Why would 79 mph trains be any more dangerous than 60 mph or even 20 mph trains? Fact is if you're stupid enough to drive around crossing gates you're going to bear the brunt of the damage in any train-automobile collision, regardless of how fast the train is going. The stupidity of the general public, and the politicians they elect, never ceases to amaze me.

jtr, I hear you. Everything is so politicized and partisan nowadays, I'm thinking I'd rather go into hibernation and have someone wake me up when an actual new HSR line is built. Maybe I'll never wake up, I'm getting that pessimistic. The stupidity part is not new, if that is a comfort. H.L. Mencken had a famous quote from the first half of the 20th century:
"No one ever went broke under-estimating the stupidity of the American Public."

I wonder if any of these clowns have ever ridden the train on this route. Maybe they think it will go up the middle of I 5. High speed through Bellingham can't be more than 25 mph.

RickRackstop wrote:I wonder if any of these clowns have ever ridden the train on this route. Maybe they think it will go up the middle of I 5. High speed through Bellingham can't be more than 25 mph.

i presume you mean the nimbys , not the mayors ???