I will be flying from Vancouver (YVR) to Seattle (SEA) tomorrow to connect to another flight. This half hour flight is absolutely ridiculous.
Because the three main PNW airports are near the city center and are connected to local public transit, they would be awesome #HighSpeedRail terminals. Rather than flying to get to a connecting flight, I wish I could reasonably take the #train.
1/4
In 2023, 625,692 passengers flew the SEA-YVR route with 143,129 on the PDX-YVR. From Apr 2023 too Mar 2024, an estimated 609,000 passengers took the PDX-SEA route.
This represents an annual market of 1.38 million people traveling on air routes along the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver corridor. This doesn't include people already taking #Amtrak or driving by car between these three metro areas.
Cascadia #HighSpeedRail makes so much sense.
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As a bonus, connecting PDX-SEA-YVR by #HighSpeedRail would alleviate capacity concerns at Sea-Tac. Instead of building a new airport somewhere on the outskirts of Metro #Seattle, #HSR would allow passengers to use #Portland and #Vancouver as relief airports.
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Addendum: Obviously #HighSpeedRail needs to be a dedicated rail line. I think this could be reasonably built primarily on the I-5/I-205/BC 99 right-of-way (perhaps elevated above the median).
There would be a few slow areas (near Bellingham and Kalama for example), but I think the savings in cost, time of land acquisition, and NIMBY struggle (there will still be NIMBYs, just fewer) makes this a worthwhile compromise.
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@ingalls If Washington State gets serious enough about HSR that they're putting money into construction -- not just planning -- that money needs to be coupled with process reforms.
It's paramount that we actually learn a lesson from California's effort.
@ingalls I used to live in Seattle and there was a bus that went from the Seattle airport to downtown Seattle to Vancouver airport to downtown Vancouver. IIRC it was really cheap, like $50 in 2010. It's how I would visit my friends in Vancouver.
But yeah, high speed rail would be a better option.
@smitha The Amtrak station in Vancouver is nowhere near the airport or to my location, and is not connected to local public transit very well. There's also a bus but this isn't an option for me without a car to get to it.
IIRC Sounder only goes to Everett.
@ingalls @smitha Also Amtrak/Sounder doesn't connect well to SeaTac either. The Tukwila station is closest to the airport but you need to take a bus to connect to the terminal. Getting off Amtrak at King Street Station in downtown Seattle and connecting to Link light rail to get to SeaTac is arguably better.
Your point is a good one, all three major airports are connected to local rail transit but are very much not connected to Amtrak.
@ingalls @smitha Although I disagree that all three airports are "near" to the city centers... for each one it feels pretty long on local transit to get downtown! 47 min from PDX, 40 min from SEA, 26 min from YVR.
When we build a new #HighSpeedRail alignment, we only need to hook up to one airport in the region. All other HSR stations should be placed closer to the city centers. Rail passengers from all over the region could use that one airport for medium & long haul flights.
@ingalls @smitha I'd also humbly suggest that none of the YVR/SEA/PDX airports needs to connect to High Speed Rail. Here in #BellinghamWA we have an airport with lots of spare capacity. Connect HSR to our airport and to the city centers in Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland. You all can use our airport for medium and long haul flights!
#CascadiaRail #HighSpeedRail #HSR #transit #airports #AirTravel
@alan @smitha my point about airports is to also use this to offload some demand from Seattle so they don’t build a brand new intl airport nearby.
I disagree that they are far from the city centers. It only takes a long time because the transit isn’t optimized. YVR is 10 km from downtown, SEA 17 km, and PDX 10 km.
I’m not fully opposed to BLI but it is a tough sell for me because too many stops and it can’t be HSR. There will already have to be a stop at the border.
@ingalls @smitha I wouldn't worry about the "too many stops" thing. A stop in Bellingham makes a small difference in the overall travel time at HSR speeds, and some express trains can skip that station too. Most (but not all) of the WSDOT planning studies include a station in Bellingham. They also don't foresee an additional stop at the border, all customs would happen at the Vancouver HSR station before you board (like they do in London for HSR trips to France)
https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-studies/ultra-high-speed-rail-study
WSDOT is studying how high-speed ground rail might serve as a catalyst to transform the Pacific Northwest. A stronger, better connected economic megaregion — stretching from greater Vancouver, British Columbia to metro Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon — has the potential to thrive in the global marketplace. A key component of that vision is a fast, frequent, reliable and environmentally responsible transportation system that unites this Cascadia megaregion, and positions it for global competitiveness and future prosperity.2024 federal grant award and next steps The project was awarded a $49.7 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration in December 2024. The project will also receive $5.5 million in state match funds from the Washington State Legislature. These funds will support the next phase of work, including the technical work and community and partner engagement to look at market and potential ridership, route options, and environmental considerations.This marks the second FRA Corridor Identification and Development grant program award for Cascadia High-Speed Rail, now part of the federal funding pipeline for passenger rail development.2023 UHSGT status reportThis report to the Legislature provides an overview on activities that occurred between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. It is not a planning report subject to public comment.View the 2023 UHSGT status report (PDF 775KB) submitted to the Washington State Legislature in June 2023.
The Cascadia Rail project would be an amazing piece of infrastructure for all 3 cities!
Currently, the #Vancouver to Bellingham #railway route is crowded with freight trains, full of old bridges that need to be crossed slowly, bottlenecked by a single track used in both directions.
I have heard mumblings of the Vancouver's waterfront stn being transformed to a highspeed rail platform, but if #HSR made it to Surrey's Scott Road, YVR or Richmond's Bridgeport, that would still be fine.
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