(The following story by Diane Brooks appeared on the Seattle Times website on December 26.)
SEATTLE — Eric Temple, owner of the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, is watching from the sidelines as King County politicians and activists debate the merits of rails vs. trails.
The 42-mile BNSF Railway corridor between Snohomish and Renton is part of ongoing complex negotiations — first made public in September 2006 — among the railway, King County, the Port of Seattle and the state.
While the fate of the rail corridor along the east side of Lake Washington remains in flux, the 14-mile stretch through Snohomish County between Snohomish and Woodinville always has been intended to remain open for freight trains. The right-of-way is wide enough for a parallel trail, analysts say.
Temple still hopes to create a new dinner-train route on those rails, if the Port of Seattle chooses his company to operate the freight line. The Port and BNSF continue to negotiate sale terms for the full rail corridor, said Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs. Once the sale is completed, the Port will seek a private rail operator, she said.
The dinner train’s longtime route between Renton and Woodinville closed in August due to an Interstate 405 widening project through Bellevue. An interim move to Tacoma failed — and last month Temple shut down the train.
Now the distinctive train is parked in Battle Ground, Clark County, while Temple awaits final word on the Snohomish County rail line.
Temple said he’s “absolutely, for sure” still interested in running the dinner train between Snohomish and Woodinville.