Cascadia high speed rail project to receive $49.7 million in FRA funding

WASHINGTON — A proposed high speed rail line in the Pacific Northwest will receive $49.7 million for the second stage of planning under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development program, a group of Washington state legislators announced Wednesday, Dec. 18.

U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, along with six members of the state’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, said in the announcement that the funding for the Cascadia High Speed Rail project will go toward route planning, identification of capital projects ,and community outreach. The federal funding will be supported by $5.6 million from the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Cantwell, Murray, and the six members of Washington’s House delegation — U.S. Reps. Rick Larson, Derek Killmer, Marilyn Strickland, Adam Smith, Suzan DelBene, and Pramila Jayapal — were among 13 federal legislators from Washington and Oregon who wrote Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in September, urging funding for the project.

The Cascadia project would link Vancouver, British Columbia; Seattle; and Portland, Ore., with trains operating at up to 250 mph. The project received a $500,000 FRA grant under the Corridor ID program last year for an initial federal study [see “Full list of passenger routes in FRA Corridor program released,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 8, 2023]. A 2023 WSDOT report on the project is available here.

“This federal award is an important step forward for the Cascadia High-Speed Rail project and will support critical planning, community engagement, and initial design activities,” Murray said in a press release. “The Cascadia corridor is home to 10 million people and growing—bringing high speed rail speed to the region will be transformative, allowing Washingtonians to travel much faster and more easily between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and communities in between.” Jayapal said the project would create about 200,000 jobs and cut at least 6 million metric tons of carbon emissions.