Bill introduced for high-speed rail authority in Northwest

A bill was introduced Wednesday to establish a high-speed rail authority in Washington state. The proposed authority would partner with Oregon and British Columbia on a new high-speed line.

The Urbanist first reported on the bill, that essentially would task a high-speed rail authority with cobbling together a structure to allow for operation across Washington, Oregon, British Columbia.

The bill would allocate a total of $3.25 million to develop the authority that would preside over the three areas, and produce a train with a maximum testing speed of at least 250 miles per hour.

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If it were to happen, the train could theoretically connect Portland and Seattle in under an hour.

No such trains operate in the United States. The fastest train, Amtrak’s Acela Express, hits maximum speeds of 154 miles per hour, but averages about half that speed on its route between Washington D.C. and Boston.

“It could be a game changer,” said Washington DOT spokesperson Janet Matkin, speaking about the train last summer.

In July 2018, the Province of British Columbia, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and Microsoft announced a $750,000 contribution toward studying a high-speed line. That was in addition to the $750,000 the Washington State Legislature had already approved for the study, for a total of $1.5 million.

Associated Press