RAILforum: New Cascades Train

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Posted by mccannt (Member # 123) on :

Ah, but there's good news tonight!!!

According to a verbal agreement among Amtrak, Union Pacific and the Oregon Department of Transportation, a second Cascades train will begin operating between Portland and Eugene, Ore. on Sept. 15.

Northbound, train #752 will depart Eugene at 09:30, arriving in Portland at 12 noon to connect with a midday Portland-Seattle Cascades departing at 12:30.

Southbound, train #753 will depart Portland at 17:30 with a connection from the midday Seattle-Portland Cascades arriving in Portland at 17:15. It will arrive back in Eugene at about 20:05.

Both trains will make intermediate stops in Salem and Albany. Eventually, both will also serve a new stop under development in Oregon City, just south of Portland.

The trains will use one of the four Cascades Talgo trainsets currently operating in the Pacific Northwest. The plan, according to reports, is to use the set currently in Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. service, replacing that one with the blue-and-silver Talgo originally earmarked for the long-delayed (and now further delayed) Los Angeles-Las Vegas service.

Posted by JSChicago (Member # 68) on :

This one seems interesting.... Kudos to Amtrak for making Cascades service more frequent and more like a real corridor service; I think the new train will be very successful; but why don't they just extend that Seattle-Portland train southward instead of using a separate, connecting trainset? The procedure seems kind of odd. For that matter, they could also just extend one of the Portland-Seattle or Eugene-Seattle runs north to Vancouver rather than use a separate train; this would also make connections to the Empire Builder to/from Vancouver much easier.

------------------
Peace,

Jack S.
Chicago, IL

Posted by mccannt (Member # 123) on :

Amtrak and Oregon DOT are delaying the startup of Eugene-Portland trains #752/753 from Sept. 15 to Oct. 6. Union Pacific has apparently requested the delay to finish some trackwork along the route through east Portland and the suburb of Milwaukie.

Also, the UP main between Portland and Klamath Falls will host up to eight Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains daily for several weeks while BNSF closes its Oregon Trunk line between Wishram, Wash. and Chemult, Ore.

BNSF is closing the line to allow crews to perform track upgrades, including the installation of concrete ties, and the extra time slots on the UP main are needed to fit the BNSF detours in.