(The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted the following article on its website on June 28.)
SEATTLE — A fourth daily rail passenger train will be added between Seattle and Portland on Saturday, a response to growing demand.
The train will be an extension of Seattle-Bellingham service and will reduce layover times in Seattle for southbound passengers from Bellingham. It will also add time in Seattle for “day trippers,” said Theresa Gren, rail communications spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
Demand has increased on the state-sponsored intercity service from 72,000 riders in 1994 to 374,000 last year, said rail policy coordinator Kirk Fredrickson.
Including trains operated by the state and by Amtrak, ridership in the Eugene-Vancouver, B.C., corridor totaled 637,000 last year, up from 180,000 in 1994.
Fredrickson attributed the increases to the additional state-financed service and rising gas prices, which he said prompted some travelers to switch to trains.
“We detected a spike in ridership last year when (gas) prices reached $3 a gallon,” he said.
Under the new schedule southbound trains will leave Seattle for Portland at 7:30 and 11:20 a.m. and 2:20 and 5:25 p.m. Northbound trains will leave Portland for Seattle at 12:15, 3:55, 6:20 and 9:45 p.m. Roundtrip fares range from $26 to $42, depending on departure time and train.
The additional service will cost the state $2.75 million for the fiscal year that ends next summer. State legislators will have to approve more subsidy money to continue the four-train service past that point.
Fredrickson said the state service recovers about 47 percent of its operating costs from fares.