(The following appeared on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website on August 13, 2009.)
SEATTLE — The second daily Amtrak Cascades train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. is slated to start running Aug. 19, the state Department of Transportation reported Wednesday.
The second train has been approved as part of a pilot project through the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics games.
The second train was initially scheduled to start last August but was delayed because the Canadian Border Services Agency wanted to charge a $1,500 cost-recovery fee for customs inspections. The state didn’t want to pay the fee, and the Canadian government has since agreed to waive it.
The service will begin with a northbound arrival from Portland into Vancouver at 10:45 p.m. A southbound train will leave Vancouver at 6:40 a.m. the following morning and arrive in Portland at 2:45 p.m., WSDOT reported.