Amtrak’s Long-Distance Expansion Plan Includes Two New Pacific Northwest Routes

Both of the proposed routes in the Pacific Northwest would restore service that previously existed in the Amtrak network.

The Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha service would be restored between Seattle and Chicago on a 2,096 mile corridor. The service was a short-lived route operated by Amtrak between 1971 and 1979. Last year, the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority won support for federal funding to plan restoration of the North Coast Hiawatha, so the fact that the service made the cut in the FRA’s plan is not exactly surprising. The Seattle-Denver route would essentially restore much of the Amtrak Pioneer service that operated between 1977 and 1997. The preferred route would have major stops in Portland, Boise, Pocatello, Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Grand Junction on a 1,671 mile corridor. Travel time is estimated to be around 40 hours end to end and the Pioneer would serve five metropolitan statistical areas (with about 1.28 million residents) without any Amtrak service. Read more.