All Things Cascades incl Vancouver

Concerning the recent discussion of "is it worth it?": KGW.com

Is commuting by Amtrak train a better option to avoid I-5 bottleneck between Vancouver and Portland?

Amtrak has added more trains to its daily schedule between Vancouver, Washington and Portland. The cost? $5 a ride. Is hopping on a train the better commute option?
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Amtrak’s Cascades service recently added two additional trains to the daily schedule, for a total of six round trips a day. It runs from Vancouver, British Columbia, all the way down to Eugene, Oregon.

The ride from the Amtrak station in Vancouver, Washington, near downtown Vancouver to Portland Union Station in Old Town costs $5 each way. If all goes well, it's a 26-minute ride.
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News Anchor Tim Gordon and KGW photographer John Helm bought tickets for the 8:51 a.m. southbound train from Vancouver to Portland. The train was ten minutes late getting to Vancouver, and then, river traffic kept them from crossing the bridge for trains across the Columbia River by another ten minutes.
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So, Mr. Dunville, as far as BR was concerned, only London Euston-Birmingham or London KC-York were markets?

Wonder what the successor (ostensible) private sector operators hold today?

I have not set foot on "Mother Country's soil" since '86, so I totally defer to you.

Years ago when the HST came out, British Rail did a study. Train trips under three hours were well-received by potential travelers. Above three hours not so much.

What's the limit to a traveler's endurance on an intercity bus? BoltBus (Greyhound) found out that Wi-Fi and modern buses are nice-to-haves, but price was the only way to compete. Modern transportation studies show that frequency and journey time are the critical factors for most travelers. For intra-OR service, buses between Salem and Portland are fine; Eugene to Portland is a stretch.

And remember, about half the passengers who board in OR are continuing on to a destination in WA. It's less likely that an Olympia to Salem passenger would still choose a train+bus journey over a 1-seat train ride. Plus, the new schedule moves the 530am departure from EUG to a friendlier 730am departure time. And all trains to/from EUG are now providing a one-seat ride from/to Seattle. I don't think the historic ridership gains in November and December are outliers--they'll be a trend.

BNSF has already started working on a slope stabilization project between Kelso and Vancouver WA (near Felida) to mitigate the risk of landslides that have canceled Cascades service several times this winter. Unfortunately, the track work may delay some trains up to 30 minutes through March 17.

from ODOT:

From Feb. 2 to March 17, BNSF will be working to stabilize areas prone to slides between Vancouver, Wash. and Seattle. This may cause delays of up to 30 minutes for trains operating from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Amtrak will monitor trains to ensure passengers make connections to other trains.

Wonder if BNSF is receiving any state funds for the mitigation? Up to 30 minute delays? Better finish it ASAP with the delays now instead of cancellations later!

Oregon DOT has released ridership numbers for 2024 Q1: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/About/GR/20 ... Report.pdf

This is the first complete quarter since two additional round trips were added between Seattle-Portland and the timing of the Oregon trains was adjusted.

From the report:

Ridership during the first quarter of 2024 was resilient, ending with an impressive March,
which posted the highest ridership of any month since the 1994 inception of the Amtrak
Cascades in Oregon with 14,263 riders.

March is not normally the time of year that all-time ridership records are broken on the Cascades corridor, but the report mentions that shifting the first northbound departure time from 530am to 745am increased ridership by 43% on that train. And despite the landslide related cancellations in 2024 Q1, overall ridership in OR increased by 64% over 2023 Q1.