SEATTLE — Amtrak and the Washington State Department of Transportation have introduced the first electric bus used as part of the Amtrak network, providing service on the Amtrak Cascades route between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash.
Mid-day buses help fill the gap between the morning and evening trains on the Cascades route between Seattle and Bellingham; the buses also stop in Everett and Mount Vernon and connect with trains operating south of Seattle. The bus, owned and operated by MTRWestern, can make the nearly 200-mile round trip on a single charge.
“By incorporating environmental considerations into our current operations and as we work with our partners to reach more of America, we continue to make Amtrak an even ‘greener’ mode of transportation,” Kara Oldhouser, Amtrak’s sustainability director, said in a press release. Washington Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar said WSDOT “is pleased to be the first in the country to offer electric bus service on an intercity route that’s part of Amtrak’s National Network. … Adding a bus to our fleet that is powered by clean energy further affirms our commitment to offer environmentally friendly travel options in the Pacific Northwest.”
MTRWestern says the trip is an ideal length for an electric bus and will save approximately 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year, cutting CO2 emissions by 109 tons annually.
“The future is electric, and we are committed to delivering carbon-free intercity and group transportation throughout the Pacific Northwest. We consider the collaboration on this route a transformational step towards even greater EV regional transit,” said MTRWestern President Jeremy Butzlaff.
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