Amtrak Cascades service recovering this week

An Amtrak Empire Builder train pushes five Amfleet I cars through Everett Station on their way to Seattle (SounderBruce via reddit)

The Seattle Times ($), Trains Magazine, and The Urbanist are reporting that Amtrak is rearranging cars from its national fleet to restore service to Amtrak Cascades over the course of this week. This is in response to Amtrak's sudden recall of Horizon rail cars nationwide last week which severely impacted Cascades service.

Amtrak is ferrying Amfleet railcars to the PNW via the Empire Builder route right now, with train service to Vancouver, B.C., expected to return for one of two schedule round-trips as of today. Videos of Amfleet cars on Empire Builder trains have been rolling online over the last day or two. Additional service will be restored as more cars arrive with each daily run of the Empire Builder train this week.

WSDOT posted this temporary banner on the Amtrak Cascades website yesterday:

Replacement trains arriving soon:

Several train cars are on their to Seattle to replace the Horizon trainsets unexpectedly taken out of Amtrak Cascades service on March 26 due to corrosion issues. Some train cars have already arrived, while others are on their way. They are being transported as part of Amtrak's long-distance train, the Empire Builder, from Chicago.

The first Amtrak Cascades trains that will be back in service are Train 516 and Train 519 between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. These trains are expected to resume on Tuesday, April 1.

As additional train cars arrive over the next week, they will quickly be entered into service, with trains replacing the buses that are currently running. The goal is to quickly restore all trips, but with a limited number of cars on each train. Therefore, most trains will have fewer seats available, providing just two coach cars, 17 business class seats and a Cafe car. In some cases, this could result in the availability of just half the number of coach seats as normal. It is uncertain how long this limited seating will remain in place. For future travel plans, book your travel in advance due to limited seating options until our routes are fully operational.