EVERETT — Train cars are en route to the West Coast to help fill gaps in the Amtrak Cascades route after issues with Amtrak’s Horizon train cars forced nearly all train service on the route to halt.
Amtrak is sending the replacement train cars, known as Amfleet I train cars, from Chicago. The first Amtrak Cascades trains scheduled to return to service will serve the route between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. Those are expected to resume Tuesday. Service between Seattle and Portland is expected to return later this week.
Additional train cars are set to arrive over the next week, according to a statement from the Washington Department of Transportation, which partially funds the Cascades route along with the Oregon Department of Transportation. The goal is to quickly restore all trips, the department said, but the number of cars on each train will be limited. Most trains will only have two coach cars, 17 business class seats and a café car.
This could result in a 50% reduction in available coach seats, the department said. It’s uncertain how long this limited seating will remain in place. The department recommended booking train trips in advance until the routes are fully operational.
The shutdown in train service came after Amtrak discovered corrosion in many of its Horizon rail cars, which the rail agency used for nearly all of its trains on the Amtrak Cascades route.
Buses are currently filling the gaps in service left behind after Amtrak pulled the trains from operation. A shutdown like this had not previously happened on the Cascades route, according to Janet Matken, a Washington Department of Transportation spokesperson.
Amtrak Cascades provides rail service between Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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