Cascadia bullet train stuck at the station as feds dole out big bucks for rail

The Federal Railroad Administration largely passed over the Pacific Northwest while doling out more than $8 billion on Friday to improve passenger rail service across the nation.

Advocates who envision a 250 mph bullet train zipping between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Canada, were looking forward to celebrating a nearly $200 million grant award. Instead, the Washington and Oregon transportation departments came away with a couple of rail development grants of $500,000.

Boosters of the “ultra-high speed” passenger train insisted the dream of one-hour trips from Vancouver to Seattle or Seattle to Portland is still positioned to get federal support down the line and that one of the smaller grants was a positive sign. Skeptics of the costly project breathed a sigh of relief and urged a refocused effort to upgrade existing Amtrak Cascades service between Vancouver and Eugene, Oregon.

“They didn’t ignore us, which is a good thing,” Washington State House Transportation Committee Vice Chair Brandy Donaghy (D-Snohomish County) said. “We can keep going, and that’s the important part.”

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2023/12/08/cascadia-bullet-train-stuck-at-the-station-as-feds-dole-out-big-bucks-for-rail/