Kent, Wash. Google Maps KENT, Wash. — Is there a hamburger powerful enough to stop a train? The Puget Sound region’s rail-transit agency and fans of a local hamburger chain may find out. Sound Transit, the regional authority building and operating a light-rail system in Seattle and its suburbs, recently issued a list of six […]
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SEATTLE — One of the biggest construction projects in the Pacific Northwest in recent years is actually a demolition job — the removal of a two-mile double-decker elevated highway slicing between downtown and the Elliott Bay waterfront. And slicing under that highway structure is one of the region’s most important rail lines. BNSF Railway’s main […]
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Here’s a quick clip of a Union Pacific mixed freight train crossing the Powder River in Natrona County, Wyo. Video submitted by Brian Olson. […]
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Here’s a quick clip of a Union Pacific mixed freight train crossing the Powder River in Natrona County, Wyo. Video submitted by Brian Olson. […]
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled that the Pierce County, Wash., medical examiner isn’t entitled to a copy of a video recording made and held by BNSF Railway of a 2017 fatality in which a man standing on tracks was struck and killed. The ruling, filed Jan. 31, stems from a […]
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A Wilsonville-bound Westside Express Service train passes through Tigard, Ore., in June 2018. An Oregon legislator wants the service extended to the state capital, Salem. TRAINS: David Lassen PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon legislator is making a fourth attempt to generate interest in a plan to extend Portland’s lone commuter-rail line to Salem, Ore. The […]
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Department of Transportation has issued a request for proposals for an operator of a 90-mile branch of a state-owned short line in eastern Washington. The Palouse & Lewiston branch is one of three sections of what’s collectively known as the Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad. The Palouse & Lewistown […]
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SEATTLE — The topic of high-speed rail for the Vancouver, B.C.-Seattle-Portland, Ore., corridor continues to generate interest in the region. Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia are cooperating on a study of routes, stations, equipment, and costs of a high-speed rail system operating at up to 250 miles per hour. Microsoft is also funding the study, […]
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SEATTLE — The mayor of Seattle says she wants to go ahead with a long-delayed, over-budget, mile-long downtown streetcar line, but there’s still the small matter of finding the additional millions of dollars to pay for it. Mayor Jenny Durkan put the project on hold in March 2018 for a review; the report itself and […]
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SANDPOINT, Idaho — The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for public comments on how two bridge proposals by BNSF Railway would affect navigation on the Pend Oreille River and Lake Pend Oreille. Two new bridges would parallel the existing 1905-built Northern Pacific bridges on BNSF’s “Northern Transcon.” One would be 4,874-feet-long. The other would be […]
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — Any replacement for the century-old Interstate 5 bridge connecting Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., must include light rail, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said last week. Inslee, speaking at a preview of the 2019 legislative session that beings today, said light rail will be included because Oregon, which will pay for half of […]
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SEATTLE — Sound Transit and the Federal Transit Administration have finalized an agreement for $1.2 billion in funding for an 8.5-mile extension of its light rail system. The FTA announced the grant on Thursday, after the conclusion of a 30-day congressional review period for the funding agreement announced in November. [See “Sound Transit, FTA reach […]
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