Is A Bullet Train In The Pacific NW's Future? Studies Are Saying A Big Maybe

Also, will high-speed rail EVER come to the region? Don’t hold your breath.

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Transcript:

Tom, even with that uncertainty about the transportation funding, it appears that plans however are moving forward with at least the idea to further study the high speed rail proposals between Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland. So connecting much of the West side of the cascades there. Just remind us, some of the background of the need for this, and why frankly has it taken so long for high speed rail, to even get to this point of being studied in the Northwest. For a highly innovative, and technological region of the country especially in the Portland to Spokane region. But one could argue that China, Japan, a lot European countries are far ahead of this region and the United States in this way. Why is that?

- Well, the problem at this point is that our existing Amtrak service shares the rail road, the tracks with freight trains, and the freight trains own the line and the trains can't really safely go a lot faster than the 80 miles per hour they now run in the Amtrak cascades corner. So to get to true high speed rail, which, as you said, other parts of the world have enviable systems, they pay much higher gas taxes than we do to subsidize that by the way. In our region we'd have to build a new Right of Way for a true high speed rail. And that would be extraordinarily expensive, to buy that land, it will involve tunneling, it will involve a lot of bridges, to get through Western Washington from Vancouver to Seattle to Portland. I don't know where 42 billion dollars will come from at this point. But, there is a lot of enthusiasm because the alternative is putting more lanes on interstate five. And that, when you think about 42 billion dollars being an extraordinary ask, the state transportation secretary told me last week, adding one lane in each direction from Portland to Vancouver BC, would cost a hundred billion dollars. Double what high speed rail would cost. That to the advocates makes the case to kick starting this, and actually very soon, moving to Right of Way planning and acquisition.

- I know the problem is just turning on the presses and start making money. Isn't that how it works? Maybe not. Let's be realistic though. This could happen, maybe, sometimes in our life, sometime in our lifetimes, the high speed rail on the West side of the cascades.

- I'd like to see it. But I'm not sure if it's gonna be in my lifetime.

- Okay so then if it's a hard sell on the West side of the cascades, even more of a dream on the East side of the cascades, connecting Spokane, the tri cities, up to Seattle, you know, down to Boise or something like that. Is that in anyway even in the conversation? Or if that is so far beyond the pail?

- It is in the conversation. Now this might not be the same really high speed rail that we're talking about for the I5 corner, which is 250 miles per hour trains, in the visioning process at least. But there is talk about bringing back the cross state trains, that you know, many decades ago, existed. A group called All Aboard Washington, which is lobbying groups and advocacy for rail advocates and enthusiasts. They succeeded in tacking on a little provision on the West side ultra high speed rail study to revive an East West train in the stampede past quarters, that's now being studied by a consultant, we'll probably get a report next year, on ridership and cost. This would revive the train from Seattle that would go over the mountains through the Yakima valleys, to the tri cities and then up to Spokane. The trouble is the operating cost long term. Amtrak, I learnt when reporting about it, similar idea to revive a train from Portland to Boise, through the Columbia River gorge, Amtrak doesn't pay for trains anymore, that run less than 750 miles per hour, I mean at 750 miles. And so that means, you know, a cross state train Seattle to Spokane is about 350 miles, the run, Portland to Boise is about 500 miles. The cost would have to be borne by the states. And again you know, we've subsidized just about all forms of transportation to some degree, but finding new money to subsidize, an expansion of service, of this nature is, can be hard in the legislature, no two ways around that.