(The following story by Kelly Sinoski appeared on the Vancouver Sun website on March 31, 2009.)
VANCOUVER — A second Amtrak Cascades passenger train will travel between Seattle and Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games, but Canadian border officials are still balking at extending the service in the future.
Scott Witt, rail and marine director for the Washington state department of transportation, said details were still being finalized, but the B.C. government has authorized Amtrak to run a second daily train to and from Vancouver during the Olympic period.
The proposed Amtrak Cascades service would see a second train leaving Seattle in the afternoon and arriving in Vancouver at 10:45 p.m, with the return train to Seattle leaving Vancouver at about 7:30 a.m.
This would complement the current train, which now leaves Seattle at 7:45 a.m. and arrives in Vancouver at 11:35 a.m., with the return trip leaving Vancouver at 5:45 p.m. and arriving in Seattle at 10:05 p.m.
Witt said the new service is approved to start a few weeks before the Olympics. But the Americans are hoping to convince the B.C. government to allow it to start the service as early as June so it can market the route and boost ridership numbers before the Games begin.
It also wants to keep it running once the Olympics are over, Witt said, adding he expects the number of passengers to be about the same for both trains.
In 2008, 31,009 people headed south on the Amtrak Cascades train, while 35,136 came north to Vancouver.
“Our stand is that looking at the economic benefits up there it makes sense,” Witt said.
The U.S. has been in negotiations with the B.C. government and customs officials for about nine months to get the train running.
The main hurdle is the Canada Border Services Agency, which wants to be compensated for having to bring in extra customs officials to provide border clearance in the evening.
Amtrak doesn’t pay anything extra now to run the current service because the train arrives during business hours in Vancouver. Witt said CBSA wants $535,000 a year to handle the second train.
“That’s the crux of the issue here,” Witt said, adding that Amtrak wouldn’t have to pay an extra fee to run the trains during the Olympics.
CBSA spokeswoman Faith St. John agreed that money was the main stumbling block, noting that border services has to figure out how it will handle additional incoming traffic from the U.S.
She said discussions were continuing with Amtrak and the Washington transportation department about extending the service.
“We are in discussions with them so as long as we’re talking there’s a good chance,” she said.
She wouldn’t comment on whether concessions had been made allow the train to run during the Olympics.
B.C. transportation ministry officials would not confirm the plans.
In March 2007, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon promised to provide funding to upgrade the tracks, saying that in the first full year of operation, a second Amtrak passenger train was expected to bring about 50,000 travellers a year to Vancouver, injecting an estimated $13.9 million into B.C.’s economy.