Amtrak removes older cars from Cascades line

According to a Washington State Standard article written by columnist Tom Banse, Amtrak "removed all 70 of its Horizon train cars from the fleet nationwide, including 26 used on the Amtrak Cascades line" on March 26. The removal was due to corrosion discovered on the "aging" railcars.

In an email to Banse, Washington State Department of Transportation Rail Division Spokesperson Janet Matkin stated, “Amtrak is determining how to replace the grounded Horizon trains by redistributing other trains in its national fleet. Amtrak will notify the states of Washington and Oregon as soon as a plan is in place to move replacement trains to the Pacific Northwest.”

According to the article, the Cascades line, which runs from Vancouver, B.C. to Eugene, OR, had nearly one million passengers in 2024, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of 829,000 passengers in 2019. The Horizon train cars, according to Banse, "were manufactured more than 35 years ago by Bombardier Transportation at a now-closed factory in Vermont," and "unhappy rail fans active in the Amtrak Cascades Facebook group said that corrosion was a foreseeable risk for the Horizon cars due to electrolysis where the aluminum comes in contact with steel."

The one remaining non-Horizon train on the Cascades line, according to Banse's article, "is now scheduled to make one daily southbound run from Seattle to Eugene during mornings (train No. 503) and return north to Seattle in the afternoon and evening (train No. 508)." The article also noted, "there is no rail service, for the time being, between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, which used to have two daily round trips."

Banse indicated in his article new rail cars were on order from California manufacturer Siemens, but "were not due before spring 2026."

Even before the removal, passenger rail advocates, according to Banse, "were trying to light a fire under the Washington Legislature and WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) to aim higher with the regional Amtrak Cascades service."

According to the article, House Bill 1837, described as "a bipartisan legislative bill to set ambitious goals for service upgrades and reliability," passed the state House in March on a 68-29 vote. The bill directs WSDOT to "set a goal to shave about an hour off the current scheduled trip times between Seattle and Portland as well as Seattle and Vancouver," and "set a target for Amtrak Cascades to provide a minimum of 14 round trips per day between Seattle and Portland and a minimum of five round trips per day between Seattle and Vancouver by 2035." According to the article, the bill was pending in the state Senate and awaiting a hearing by the Transportation Committee on Tuesday, April 1.

On Tuesday, the same day of the scheduled hearing, an article by Washington State Standard columnist Bill Lucia stated, "Amtrak is moving train cars to the Northwest from other parts of the country to swap in for 26 cars abruptly pulled from service in late March due to corrosion problems." These cars, according to Lucia, were being transported northwest by Amtrak on its Empire Builder line, which comes out of Chicago.

According to Lucia's article train Nos 516 and 519, which run between Vancouver, B.C. and Seattle, resumed service Tuesday. In an email to Lucia, Matkin stated, "more trains will return to service later this week, including trains between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and a train between Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver."

As Matkin said WSDOT's goal is "to quickly restore all trips, but with a limited number of cars on each train," the spokesperson also conceded the solution results in "trains with fewer seats available in the near term" and "less than half as many coach seats as normal."

According to Lucia's article, the length of time before Amtrak can return to full seating capacity is "unclear." Concluding his article, Lucia noted the service for Amtrak's Coast Starlight line, which "makes the same stops as the regional Cascades service on its once-daily departure between Seattle and California," has not been affected.