High speed rail on the west coast? Expert says it’s possible, but there’s a cheaper option
Posted February 19, 2017 9:41 am.
Last Updated February 19, 2017 10:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PORTLAND (NEWS 1130) – Washington State governor Jay Inslee has stoked the fire under the possibility of a high-speed rail line between Portland and Vancouver, pledging a million dollars to explore the idea.
Just how likely it is we eventually see the service built? Inslee wants to see frequent service with trains running at 400 kilometres an hour.
That would require entirely new infrastructure to be built between the two cities.
Paul Langen with High Speed Rail Canada says there is a cheaper, easier and overall more feasible option.
“With the Vancouver and Portland situation, we need to look at frequent, fast passenger trains as opposed to true high speed. The term they use, high-speed in the United States, usually doesn’t mean high-speed, it just means fix infrastructure that hasn’t been fixed in 50 years so they can at least be done on time,” explains Langen.
That can mean faster, but Langen estimates a revamped train system would still fall short of the 250-kilometre-mark that officially denotes high-speed rail.
“The original definition of high-speed was 200 kilometres an hour. That’s kind of low now. Now I would think on something like Vancouver to Portland, if they get up to 150 kilometres and hour or 125 kilometres an hour on a consistent basis, that would be a miracle, considering the route it takes there, which is a beautiful route.”
