Amtrak what if -- Yakima, Wa.
Author: likes trains
Date: 09-26-2016 - 15:32
I was just comparing train, bus, and car times from Seattle to Yakima, Wa (which has not had a passenger train since 1981).
Amtrak train #8 (1981): 4 hours, 20 min.
Greyhound bus (2016): 3 hours
Car: 2 hours, 30 min.
I wonder if a Talgo trainset from Pasco to Seattle via Yakima, Ellensburg and Stampede Pass would have business? I am optimistic on this and would love to see it. The university in Ellensburg would attract riders. The unpleasantness of I-90 in Winter would probably get people onto the train too. But the train would need a state subsidy in a state with a tight budget that can't properly fund its colleges. So I dunno.