The future of Amtrak Cascades

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) recently requested feedback on their plans for the future of Amtrak Cascades service. They call it the Preliminary Amtrak Cascades Service Development Plan (SDP). We (STB authors) responded:

We expect that the region will continue to grow and our airports and freeways won't be able to handle the traffic increase. We should make sure that we don't need flights within Cascadia. While UHSR [ultra-high speed rail] service may be nice, the California HSR made it clear what cost/effort/time it takes to do that along the West Coast. Our climate is changing and we don't have such time and we entice travelers to switch from cars to rail asap! We propose to take a more incremental approach. Germany extended their rail network with specific upgrades and a few high-speed portions which straightened some hilly routes by using tunnels and viaducts. They did not build a whole separate infrastructure as France did. We already have a rail corridor on which we can build upon. We endorse hourly (clockface) service along the corridor as proposed in Alternative E and then make incremental improvements.

Here are some considerations for further studies:

Speed: Faster travel will increase the attractiveness of the service. 90-mph is nice, but we understand the original master agreement with BNSF called for 110-mph service. What would it take to get to 110-mph? That would make a huge difference! Can we rebuild portions where the current track has tight turns and trains need to slow down to 30-mph creating a bottleneck for both passenger and freight trains? Do we need to add tunnels in some places? (May be even reach 125-mph on new track/alignments)

Can we electrify the line to allow for better acceleration (besides reducing carbon output)? That may reduce the advantage of running express trains and avoid express service violating the clockface service.

Reliability: What efforts are necessary to maintain 95% ontime performance? Are there any portions where we need to address issues which cause delays? For example Sounder-North is often canceled, can we elevate the tracks so that runoffs don't cause delays?

Connectivity: Can we add a Thruway service or even a gondola between Tukwila and Seatac airport to allow for quick transfer between international or long distance flights and Amtrak/Sounder?

PS: A blog post with ideas on how to improve service: There's No Path Forward for Ultra High-Speed Rail in Washington State; We Are Better Off For It. | Transportation Matters (wordpress.com)