(The Portland Tribune published the following story by Jeanie Senior on its website on September 5.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — One of the two state-supported Amtrak Cascades trains that make a daily round trip between Eugene and Portland will stop running Oct. 1 unless the state can come up with as much as $10 million to pay for improvements on the rail line the trains use.
The 2003 Oregon Legislature allotted $8.8 million to keep the two Cascades runs operating for the next two years. But an additional $10 million in lottery funds meant to ease the freight-passenger rail congestion on Union Pacific Railroad’s single north-south line, was eliminated from the state budget about two weeks before the session ended, and the funding was never restored.
When Oregon added the second Cascades train in 2000, it signed an agreement with Union Pacific promising that, in exchange for using UP’s rail line, the state would secure the funds to do $15 million in capital improvements by Sept. 15, 2001, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said.
In late May of this year, with the money for the work still not forthcoming, the railroad put the state on notice: If the 2003 Legislature didn’t approve the capital expenditure, it would have to cancel the 3-year-old Cascades run. “The state’s two years overdue now,” Bromley said. “They’re apparently unwilling or unable to honor the commitment.”
Claudia Howells, head of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s rail program, said she worked hard but unsuccessfully to get the money restored to the state budget. “UP doesn’t want a loan, they don’t want fancy financing. They just want to be paid for the use of their track,” she said. “They’ve been very patient.”
State Sen. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, who is co-chairman of the joint Ways and Means Committee, said he also worked hard to get the full funding for passenger rail approved. But he handed the transportation department at least part of the blame for the $10 million omission.
The transportation agency “started fussing and raised the concern level by a lot of my Republican colleagues, who thought we were taking money from regional programs,” he said. “I think again ODOT was its own worst enemy.”
Schrader’s Senate district includes Oregon City, where the $1.2 million Metro South train station is scheduled to open in November. Plans call for both Cascades trains, but not the Coast Starlight, to stop there.
“Trains are important to my district, so we tried,” Schrader said.
The run that is in jeopardy leaves Eugene at 9:30 a.m., arrives in Portland at 12:05 p.m., and returns southbound at 5:30 p.m., getting to Eugene at 8:05 p.m.
In terms of ridership, it’s the more popular of the two Cascades trains.
Oregon City Mayor Alice Norris said the new station, with ample parking, is aimed at expanding commuter possibilities for area residents. Riders include retired residents, students and travelers.
But if one of the trains is canceled, “it’s a terrible schedule,” she said. “It’s very inconvenient. I believe the only way to grow passenger rail is to have it both accessible and convenient.”
Robert Krebs, head of passenger rail for the transportation department, said the state had identified several projects to improve the Cascades service while easing the conflict with UP’s freight trains, including the addition of an 8-mile stretch of double track north of Eugene.
Track and signaling upgrades would address other “choke points,” he said, and also allow the freights to move faster.
Cutting out one train will mean the annual loss of about 25,000 to 30,000 passengers, he said.
“We will be putting on a bus to replace the train if it comes off, but we’ll still have that loss in ridership,” he said.
Pat Egan, transportation policy adviser to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, said he’s not ready yet to call the second Cascades train a goner. Rail division staff members of the Transportation department already have talked to Union Pacific representatives, and, he said, “I would hope we might be able to work something out at least to keep it going a little longer.
“We’re trying to find sources of funds,” Egan said. “I’m sure we’ll be talking with them early next week, if not by the end of this week. But first we want to make sure we have something to offer.”
The Cascades trains, with rider numbers steadily increasing, often are pointed to as an Amtrak success story. The Washington state Legislature this year set aside a hefty funding package to increase the number of Cascades trains running between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, with the long-term goal of 12 trains a day.
This session, the Oregon Legislature approved a statewide tourism marketing effort that will be funded by a statewide hotel-motel tax. And Egan said state representatives just last week met with the Canadian consul general to talk about the anticipated tourism boost expected by the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Vancouver, B.C.
“One of the heaviest users of the rail system are tourists,” he said. “If we’re stepping back at the same time Washington state is stepping forward … we need to at least make sure we keep what we’ve got and don’t lose ground.”
If the second Cascades train goes, Howell warned, “we won’t get it back again without making at least $15 million in improvements.”
Also, she said, the second Cascades Talgo train set that Oregon is using belongs to the state of Washington, which is likely to take the equipment back for its own use if the run ends. Talgo is the Spanish manufacturer of the trains.