All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

There isn't may 79 zones as I recall between VAC and SEA; most of it I seem to remember is 60-65 tops. And when there is, it isn't long parts either.

bdawe wrote:Amtrak Cascades 517 departed Vancouver this evening lead by BNSF 5821, and tailed by a non-cascades NPCU. The last few times I've happened to catch the train going by it's been lead by BNSF units.

I noticed at the train was reported 1:25 late in Bellingham. I'm curious- when being lead by freight power, do the Talgos go at Talgo speeds through curves? I realize that the normal locomotives are also non tilting, but the usual Cascades power is also considerably lighter than 200 ton freight power.

That train made up time to timetable according to Dixieland South of Bellingham. Are the curves from Bellingham to Vancouver so severe that the difference between tilt and no tilt is over an hour and there's basically no need for tilt between Bellingham and Seattle?

Perhaps the bridge was opened at New Westminster, or perhaps they were waylaid by customs

Unfortunately, many times the train is going too slow between Vancouver and the border for the tilt system to be of any use...

While there are numerous curves just south of Bellingham, from Bow Siding down to Everett the line is largely straight and flat. From there curves pick up again into Seattle.

AgentSkelly wrote:There isn't may 79 zones as I recall between VAC and SEA; most of it I seem to remember is 60-65 tops. And when there is, it isn't long parts either.

Sorry this is not better formatted, but here is the info I have at the moment. Speeds are for Talgo, Passenger train, freight from left to right. You'll notice that Talgos are authorized for higher speeds than the regular passenger trains in many places.

MP 119.6 to MP 118.2 50 50 30
MP 118.2 to MP 108.7 79 79 60
MP 108.7 to MP 108.2 79 70 50
MP 108.2 to MP 106.2 79 79 60
MP 106.2 to MP 105.8 45 45 40
MP 105.9 to MP 105.8, Bridge 105.8, cars 138 tons
and over 25 25 25
MP 105.8 to MP 103.4 79 70 60
MP 103.4 to MP 101.0 60 55 50
MP 101.0 to MP 100.1 45 40 35
MP 100.1 to MP 97.1 50 45 35
MP 97.1 to MP 96.7 35 35 30
MP 96.7 to MP 93.6 40 35 30
MP 93.6 to MP 90.5 46 40 35
MP 90.5 to MP 88.3 50 45 35
MP 88.3 to MP 87.2 45 40 35
MP 87.2 to MP 85.1 45 45 35
MP 85.1 to MP 82.6 45 40 35
MP 82.6 to MP 76.8 79 79 60
MP 76.8 to MP 76.4 67 60 55
MP 76.4 to MP 74.8 79 79 60
MP 74.8 to MP 74.5 50 45 40
MP 74.5 to MP 70.4 79 79 60
MP 70.4 to MP 67.9 50 50 45
MP 67.9 to MP 51.0 79 79 60
MP 51.0 to MP 49.6 70 65 55

Mile after mile of sub 50 MPH speeds. That's the real problem.

Those mileposts appear to be roughly from the Border to about halfway between Mount Vernon and Everett?

Anyway ,I plotted those speed limits in excel. Tilting speed in nice Talgo Green, passenger speed in Amtrak Blue, freight in BNSF Orange, and the purple dot noting the 138 ton restriction

Back of the envelope, with a little guesswork on acceleration/deceleration (I used 30 mph/min for non-Talgo and 36 mph/min for Talgo), the Talgos do that 70 mile stretch in about 76 minutes while a non-Talgo will do that in about 82.5 minutes, which are average speeds, respectively of 55 mph and 51 mph.

With a little bit of time on my hands, I started digging around for employee timetables, and was able to add (somewhat dated) speed limits for Vancouver-Seattle (vancouver is on the left, seattle on the right), along with the speed limits for streamlined trains (ie the GN Internationals) from 1951 for comparison.

I also mapped out the route
http://i.imgur.com/3xihTcR.png

WSDOT was unable to come to an agreement to purchase land for the Tacoma station and is considering taking it via eminent domain:

Negotiations between the Freighthouse Square owner and WSDOT stalled when they couldn't agree on a price for a portion of the property.

...

Now, WSDOT is trying to acquire the property through eminent domain. The uncertainty for the project has left some neighboring businesses concerned.

...

WSDOT released the following statement:

“Should we not be able to reach resolution on Freighthouse Square, we are actively investigating options such as additional funding to supplement the time-constrained federal funding, an unstaffed stop at the platform in Tacoma, or busing passengers from the existing station to the new platform. However, most of these are not long-term solutions and do not meet the future needs of Amtrak Cascades passengers and the community, so our main goal is to resolve the negotiations if possible.”

http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/t ... /81021906/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not surprised by the eminent domain proceeding. This is a valuable commercial property in active use.

http://bikeportland.org/2016/05/05/zipc ... ide-182586" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A partnership between Amtrak, Oregon DOT, and Zipcar at Salem, Eugene, and Portland. Seems like an interesting experiment for other state DOTs to keep an eye on.

Hmmm...if I get back to more train travel, that might be a good idea for me....

How's the work on the Point Defiance Bypass coming along? Construction must be well underway now because I've seen reports like this on news sites:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... 42287.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My main question is do we yet have a firm date for when the bypass will be open? The closest answer I've seen is "summer" or "fall" of 2017. I was hoping to take a ride through the Tacoma Narrows this September but a big event has forced me to postpone that plan. But if it's still running on the old route in May of next year, that'll be perfect for me.

Work on new Tacoma Amtrak Cascades Station begins next month

Washington’s passenger rail improvements are moving full steam ahead with a new station just around the corner. Construction on the new Tacoma Amtrak Cascades Station starts next month, following a contract award to low-bidder Garco Construction, Inc., Spokane, this week.

The $10.3 million station is a key component of the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Cascades High-Speed Rail Program, a federally funded program designed to improve passenger rail throughout the Amtrak Cascades corridor in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

...

When complete in 2017, the projects [station + Point Defiance bypass] will add two more daily roundtrips between Seattle and Portland, for a total of six; reduce travel time between the two cities by 10 minutes and improve overall on-time reliability from 80 to 88 percent.