By Mike Lindblom / The Seattle Times (TNS)
Round-trip train service via Amtrak Cascades is down to just one train set in the Pacific Northwest, affecting nearly all daily service to its 18 stops between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C.
Amtrak discovered corrosion on a number of its Horizon railcars across the country during a routine inspection, the company reported Wednesday. Service on its Downeaster, Hiawatha, Borealis and Cascades routes will be impacted as the cars undergo repairs.
Across those four routes, Amtrak pulled 70 passenger cars, reported Janet Matkin, Washington State Department of Transportation’s rail, freight and ports spokesperson.
Of those 70 railcars, 26 were pulled from the Cascades route, said Amtrak spokesperson Kelly Just.
That leaves Amtrak Cascades with only one non-Horizon train set that will serve the #503 and #508 trips traveling daily between Seattle and Eugene, Matkin said. The service usually runs 12 trains daily between Seattle and Portland.
Through Sunday, Amtrak will supplement the lost train services with bus rides to and from its train stations along the Pacific Northwest route, the company reported, including between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. It will honor bicycle reservations on the buses, but business class riders will be downgraded to coach class and compensated for the price difference.
Amtrak has no estimate for how much the repairs will cost, what they will entail, or how long it will take to return the out-of-service railcars to their respective routes, Just said.
Rust began to accumulate over the lifetime of the trains mostly in areas that are exposed to water, ice and deicing treatments, she continued. A secondary inspection revealed that the corrosive effects of the rust were starting to be seen on structural steel.
“We apologize,” Just said. “We know this is inconvenient. We never compromise on safety at Amtrak. We know that this is not ideal for our customers, but it’s a move that we feel was necessary.”
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