The start of an idea....
The idea started when I learned that the city in which I live, Corvallis, is the largest city in Oregon (outside the Portland Metropolitan area) with no passenger train service of its own.
I also became frustrated when I tried to book a train or bus to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I couldn't, as Amtrak doesn't go at all and Greyhound doesn't have good connections from Corvallis. I didn't want to drive the mountains again like the only other time I went, so I didn't go.
To make a long story short, the overall idea for what I'm calling the Siskiyou Breeze is a daily corridor service between Portland and Sacramento, using Talgo trains to make the entire trip without the need for overnight cars. This would require only two full train sets (not counting backup equipment and other similar necessities), one leaving Portland early in the morning (say, 6:30) and arrive in Sacramento late at night (about 11:30), while the other does the reverse in the same time frame.
The stops, at least at first, would be as follows:
Portland: Any good train route needs a large city as an anchor at each end; Portland would be the north end. The initial train would be leaving too early in the morning and arriving too late in the evening to make any connections with other trains (other than Max, the local light rail system), but at least it gets you there -- and a second run of the train (see below) could be arranged to make the connection.
Tualatin: This city is on the list mostly because the track intersects here with the track for the upcoming Washington County Commuter Rail, which will run from Beaverton to Wilsonville (and possibly to Salem). I'm not sure how practical a station located at that crossing would be, but if it can be done it can make for some really nice connections, especially on the morning runs.
McMinnville: If selected, McMinnville would be the smallest city between Portland and Eugene with a train station. It would also serve the general rural area nearby, including Newberg.
Corvallis: As I said, this is currently the largest city outside the Portland Metropolitan Area without a train station.
Eugene-Springfield: This is the only station between Portland and Sacramento in common with the Coast Starlight, and is here for several reasons. The most compelling is that this is where the tracks intersect. More usefully, this location could be used for connections between the Siskiyou Breeze and the Coast Starlight/Amtrak Cascades.
Roseburg: The largest city south of Eugene, Roseburg is a natural stop.
Grants Pass: Interestingly, the run between Roseburg and Grants Pass is the part of this entire run where the most ridership interest has been seen. It's interesting because it's also where the track curves the most, meaning the train would be relatively slow.
Medford-Ashland: Medford is another city in this area where strong interest has been shown in a rail station. There also is a regular local bus route between here and Ashland, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. (If the OSF traffic becomes too much for the local buses, Ashland is also right on the tracks and could have its own station.)
Dunsmuir: This station is also on the Coast Starlight route, but only at rather obscene hours. The Siskiyou Breeze would be going through Dunsmuir at very sane hours.
Redding: See above, though slightly less so.
Chico: Ditto.
Sacramento: This would be the southern anchor city for the route. As in Portland, it would have to leave too early in the morning and arrive too late in the evening to make connections with other routes, though in this case all that would be needed to fix that would be a speeding up of the tracks along the route -- or, possibly, a reinstatement of the old Spirit of California overnight route to Los Angeles.
Eventually a second run could be added to the north half, running from Eugene to Portland in the morning and back in the evening, to allow for connections to the Empire Builder, Pioneer (if advocates are successful in bringing that route back), and Washington State stops of the Amtrak Cascades.
The biggest barrier in the route, in my opinion (other than getting the responsible governmental bodies to go along with it at all), is the route between Corvallis and Eugene. I'll cover that in a separate post.
I also became frustrated when I tried to book a train or bus to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I couldn't, as Amtrak doesn't go at all and Greyhound doesn't have good connections from Corvallis. I didn't want to drive the mountains again like the only other time I went, so I didn't go.
To make a long story short, the overall idea for what I'm calling the Siskiyou Breeze is a daily corridor service between Portland and Sacramento, using Talgo trains to make the entire trip without the need for overnight cars. This would require only two full train sets (not counting backup equipment and other similar necessities), one leaving Portland early in the morning (say, 6:30) and arrive in Sacramento late at night (about 11:30), while the other does the reverse in the same time frame.
The stops, at least at first, would be as follows:
Portland: Any good train route needs a large city as an anchor at each end; Portland would be the north end. The initial train would be leaving too early in the morning and arriving too late in the evening to make any connections with other trains (other than Max, the local light rail system), but at least it gets you there -- and a second run of the train (see below) could be arranged to make the connection.
Tualatin: This city is on the list mostly because the track intersects here with the track for the upcoming Washington County Commuter Rail, which will run from Beaverton to Wilsonville (and possibly to Salem). I'm not sure how practical a station located at that crossing would be, but if it can be done it can make for some really nice connections, especially on the morning runs.
McMinnville: If selected, McMinnville would be the smallest city between Portland and Eugene with a train station. It would also serve the general rural area nearby, including Newberg.
Corvallis: As I said, this is currently the largest city outside the Portland Metropolitan Area without a train station.
Eugene-Springfield: This is the only station between Portland and Sacramento in common with the Coast Starlight, and is here for several reasons. The most compelling is that this is where the tracks intersect. More usefully, this location could be used for connections between the Siskiyou Breeze and the Coast Starlight/Amtrak Cascades.
Roseburg: The largest city south of Eugene, Roseburg is a natural stop.
Grants Pass: Interestingly, the run between Roseburg and Grants Pass is the part of this entire run where the most ridership interest has been seen. It's interesting because it's also where the track curves the most, meaning the train would be relatively slow.
Medford-Ashland: Medford is another city in this area where strong interest has been shown in a rail station. There also is a regular local bus route between here and Ashland, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. (If the OSF traffic becomes too much for the local buses, Ashland is also right on the tracks and could have its own station.)
Dunsmuir: This station is also on the Coast Starlight route, but only at rather obscene hours. The Siskiyou Breeze would be going through Dunsmuir at very sane hours.
Redding: See above, though slightly less so.
Chico: Ditto.
Sacramento: This would be the southern anchor city for the route. As in Portland, it would have to leave too early in the morning and arrive too late in the evening to make connections with other routes, though in this case all that would be needed to fix that would be a speeding up of the tracks along the route -- or, possibly, a reinstatement of the old Spirit of California overnight route to Los Angeles.
Eventually a second run could be added to the north half, running from Eugene to Portland in the morning and back in the evening, to allow for connections to the Empire Builder, Pioneer (if advocates are successful in bringing that route back), and Washington State stops of the Amtrak Cascades.
The biggest barrier in the route, in my opinion (other than getting the responsible governmental bodies to go along with it at all), is the route between Corvallis and Eugene. I'll cover that in a separate post.
posted by Bob Greenwade at 9/20/2005 10:44:00 PM
2 Comments:
What's the distance, and what speed?
17 hours is a long journey by European standards. The longest British one (From Dundee in Scotland to Penzance in Cornwall) takes something 12, but that includes some 125mph running.
The overall distance from Portland to Sacramento along the proposed line, as I have it figured, is 594 miles.
As for speed, I would anticipate an initial top speed of 70 mph along the P&W track (Portland to Eugene) and no more than 50 mph (probably somewhat slower) along the CORP line (Eugene to Dunsmuir). The track on the P&W segment has been used exclusively for freight since 1942. I'm not aware that the CORP segment has ever been used for passenger rail, so the rail is still rated for relatively slow speed -- not to mention that much of the track (most notably almost everything from Roseburg to Grants Pass, and several miles south of Ashland) winds through the mountains.
For comparison, the existing Coast Starlight goes from Portland to Sacramento on 642 miles of track (longer than this one because of the side trip to Klamath Falls) leaving at 2:25pm and arriving 6:35 the next morning (assuming it's actually on time, what with traffic congestion). The track there is mostly in good repair, especially the Portland-Salem-Eugene track which is shared by the Amtrak Cascades.
And for reference, the longest train on the Amtrak system is the Sunset Limited, which takes 72 hours to go from Orlando, Florida to Los Angeles (2764 miles).
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