U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Representatives Rick Larsen (D, WA-02), Derek Kilmer (D, WA-06), Marilyn Strickland (D, WA-10), Adam Smith (D, WA-09), Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01), and Pramila Jayapal (D, WA-07) released a joint statement to announce that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded $49.7 million for planning work for the proposed Cascadia High-Speed Rail project, which would link the Pacific Northwest’s major population centers, including Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland, with regular train service running at up to 250 mph.
Will this link to the California HSR?
Probably not for a long time. There’s a lot of distance with mountains and too little population for it to be worthwhile by itself.
Hopefully once we have two segments of high speed rail, spending the money to connect the network will be an easier sale