Rail travelers will once again be able take the train directly from downtown Portland to Vancouver, B.C., three years after the line was disrupted.
Officials planned to gather at Union Station in Portland on Monday to celebrate the full revival of Amtrak’s Cascades line, which runs daily between Vancouver and Eugene. Trips into Canada were halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as travel restrictions went in place around the world. In September 2022, the train line resumed between Seattle and Vancouver, but those traveling from Portland were required to transfer.
Travelers can now leave Union Station at 3 p.m. and arrive at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver at around 11 p.m., Amtrak officials said. The southbound train is scheduled to leave Vancouver at 6:35 a.m. and return to Portland at 2:55 p.m.
“With more people now traveling, we are thrilled to double the daily roundtrips between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. By adding staffing and equipment to the region, we can once again offer customers a direct connection between Portland and Canada,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said in a news release.
Round trip tickets are currently on sale for as low as $102 on the Amtrak Cascades website, which is less than the cost to fly.
The train also stops in Seattle and several other towns along the way, including Olympia, Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington. Travelers coming from south of Portland will need to make a transfer to continue along to Canada.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who was scheduled to speak at Monday’s event, used the announcement to plug the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed by Congress in 2021. President Joe Biden made a brief appearance in Portland in 2022 to hype the same infrastructure package, which included $200 million of federal funding for projects in Oregon.
“Travel by rail is one of the most enjoyable ways to see the country, with the bonus of skipping the all-but-certain traffic delays,” Blumenauer said in a news release. “The resumption of a second daily round trip route between Portland and British Columbia is an indicator that travel is bouncing back from the pandemic, and worthy of celebration.”
— Jamie Hale
503-294-4077; jhale@oregonian.com; @HaleJamesB
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