SEATTLE — On Wednesday, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced there will be two more daily Amtrak round trips between Seattle and Portland.
The two additional trips brings the total up to seven. The two additional trips will begin on Dec. 11 and tickets will be on sale on the Amtrak Cascades site starting Dec. 1.
"The additional roundtrips and updated schedules provide more convenient travel options for Amtrak Cascades passengers," Jason Biggs, director of WSDOT’s Rail, Freight and Ports Division, said in a statement. "Many of our trains are sold out, so the addition of these two trains between Portland and Seattle has long been awaited by our customers."
Trains will now depart Seattle starting at 5:52 a.m. and Portland at 6:45 a.m. In the previous schedule, the earliest trains in those destinations were 7:08 a.m. and 8:20 a.m., respectively.
In addition, later evening times were added. Seattle will now have a train departing at 7:50 p.m. and Portland at 7:25 p.m. Previously, the latest departure times were 5:40 p.m. and 5:55 p.m.
Stops between Seattle and Portland include Tukwila, Tacoma, Olympia/Lacey, Centralia, Kelso/Longview, and Vancouver, Washington and the two new round trips will be operated with Cascades trains from both WSDOT and Oregon Department of Transportation. Currently, there is still one Coast Starlight round trip between the two cities.
To accommodate for the new trips, changes have been made to the Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia stops. To view the full Amtrak schedules and updates, check their website.
