(The following story by Diane Brooks appeared on the Seattle Times website on May 23.)
SEATTLE — Good thing the immediate future of the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train doesn’t hinge upon King County politics or the Eastside’s rails-versus-trails debates.
The popular train’s 15-year run between Renton and Woodinville’s Columbia Winery must end July 31. A widening of Interstate 405 through Bellevue will sever the tracks — permanently — by wiping out the Wilburton Tunnel, which carries southbound freeway traffic beneath the railway.
Insiders are optimistic that ongoing talks between the Dinner Train operator and BNSF Railway will yield a new route between Woodinville and Snohomish. If all goes well, the train — and its 100,000 yearly riders — could be heading into the historic riverside city by fall.
Meanwhile, King County, the Port of Seattle and BNSF continue to hash out a complex, three-way deal involving Boeing Field, $169 million from Port coffers and 42 miles of track between Snohomish and Renton. That stretch of rail includes both the existing and hoped-for Dinner Train routes.
A deal might not be formalized before December, said Kurt Triplett, chief of staff to King County Executive Ron Sims. Negotiations are expected to yield formal proposals by late June, he said. Then the Metropolitan King County Council and Seattle Port Commission must approve a series of purchase agreements, land transfers and other elements to make it real.
If the deal-making is successful, King County will take ownership of the rail corridor, which Sims envisions as a crucial link for the regional trail system. While the King County stretch of rail probably would be ripped out — a point of political contention — the Snohomish County corridor is wide enough to support both a new trail and the railroad line.
Seventeen freight customers rely upon the Snohomish County rail segment, which connects with BNSF’s main line running east-west along Highway 2.
The Temple family, which owns the Dinner Train, also owns Columbia Basin Railroad, which manages railroads owned by Clark and Yakima counties. Negotiations with BNSF include a short-term proposal — for perhaps two to five years — to operate the rail line involved in the pending three-way deal, Triplett said.
If King County assumes ownership, it would use a public-bid process to choose a long-term operator for the 14-mile stretch of railroad that would continue to run through Snohomish County, he said.
“Given all the complexities, it’s really going well,” Triplett said of the Dinner Train talks. “I think it’s going to be a win-win-win for everybody.”
Eric Temple, co-owner of the Dinner Train, said he’s “optimistic” about securing the Woodinville-Snohomish route but declined to discuss the details. “I think the Dinner Train will be running before the deal between King County and Burlington Northern [BNSF] is finalized,” he said.
Regional politicians are nudging BNSF into saving the popular train. Sims last month sent a letter of strong support, and Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and the Snohomish County Council signed a joint resolution encouraging quick action.
Temple last winter sought $10 million from the state Legislature to build depots at both ends of the new route and move 20 miles of Eastside rail down to Clark County, where the railroad is in poor shape. The company hopes to create a second Dinner Train, running from the Vancouver, Wash., area up toward Mount St. Helen, he said.
The state is saving $30 million by not rebuilding the Wilburton Tunnel, Temple said, and the Dinner Train is the only rail customer directly affected.
While Temple’s proposal stalled this year, state Reps. Hans Dunshee and John Lovick, who represent the Snohomish area, both support the funding concept, which probably will return during the Legislature’s next session.
The Dinner Train is credited as a catalyst in Renton’s downtown transformation. Now city and county leaders are excited about the prospect of shifting the train’s tourism impacts to the north. The Dinner Train has an international tourist clientele, which could be well-suited to Snohomish’s antique district.
“I couldn’t come up with a better idea in the next 50 years to get 100,000 people to come to Snohomish without a car,” said Steve Pottle, the county’s economic-development manager.
“They’ll have to come back with a car, though, to pick up their antiques,” he said.