Oregon buys 2 Talgo trainsets

Oregon City is a fairly new stop located near Highway 205, opened in 2004. It's a suburban stop designed to provide a convenient station for Portland's suburbanites in places like Lake Oswego, West Linn, Clackamas and Tualatin. There is a similar stop south of Seattle in Tukwila that seems to be growing in popularity. I can't predict if OC will ever grow to become a meaningful station.

One thing to consider about the 2009 ridership in Oregon: there was a major UP track rehabilitation project that annulled a large part of the Cascades service between Eugene and Portland during that summer. Also, the economic decline of 2009 hit Oregon pretty hard.

Just looking for clarification vis-a-vis the post immediately above yours, about sold out Cascades trains this weekend. Of course, it's a holiday weekend, and there could be other local factors, like perhaps a university letting out for the summer. But what is the capacity of a Cascades train-set, how many run daily, and how many annual pax are there? I could probably track some of this down, but I'm guessing you know or have a better idea of where to track it down than I.

I was on the 14 may 31. AMtrak loaded up the 14 out of Portland, don't know the number but they sold every coach seat aval and many paid extra and took a bedroom. The Crew on the 14 had not been informed they said over the PA, I am guessing they were none too happy. The first class in my car said that they did not get told that they got dinner included in the price. If they were able to score some I am sure they were happy.

I was on the 14 may 31. AMtrak loaded up the 14 out of Portland, don't know the number but they sold every coach seat aval and many paid extra and took a bedroom. The Crew on the 14 had not been informed they said over the PA, I am guessing they were none too happy. The first class in my car said that they did not get told that they got dinner included in the price. If they were able to score some I am sure they were happy.

So nobody informed the crew that they needed to be prepared to take on passengers and run a full train on Memorial Day?

Well crew, get used to it.

Next month, cities and towns across America are going to have an anniversary celebration. Do not be alarmed if you see sparks in the sky accompanied by loud blast noises. Many Americans will be traveling on Friday, July 2nd and Monday, July 5th, before and after the anniversary. Some trains between Portland and Seattle are already selling seats from the top fare buckets. Expect them to be full.

It's going to be a busy summer.

jstolberg wrote:
So nobody informed the crew that they needed to be prepared to take on passengers and run a full train on Memorial Day?

Well crew, get used to it.

.

I am pretty sure that there was a time when Amtrak would not sell space on 11 and 14 between PDX and SEA...as in the computer would not accept it. This was to keep all those people on the Cascades, free up space on 11 and 14 for long distance travelers. This seems to be no longer true.