SEATTLE — Amtrak is scheduled to begin restoring Cascades service on Tuesday, April 1, as repositioned Amfleet equipment replaced the sidelined Horizon railcars, the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a statement today (March 31, 2025).
Since Amtrak removed 70 Horizon cars — including 26 in Cascades service — from service last week because of corrosion issues — six of seven Cascades trains have been replaced by buses [see “Amtrak sidelines Horizon car fleet …,” Trains News Wire, March 26, 2025]. The lone train still operating has been a Seattle-Eugene, Ore., round trip using an Oregon-owned Talgo trainset.
With substitute Amfleet cars arriving as they are ferried on the Empire Builder, the first trains scheduled to be restored on Tuesday are a Seattle-Vancouver, British Columbia round trip: No. 516, a 12:30 p.m. departure from Seattle, and No. 519, a 4:45 p.m. departure from Vancouver. That will mean at least one train is operating over all of the Vancouver-Eugene corridor.
Trains slated to be restored later this week are Seattle-Portland train Nos. 505 (an 8:55 a.m. departure); Portland-Seattle train No. 506 (a 9:20 p.m. departure); Vancouver-Portland train No. 517, which initially operate only between Seattle and Portland; and Portland-Vancouver train No. 518. Additional service will be restored as more cars arrive.
WSDOT says its goal is to “quickly restore all trips, but with a limited number of cars on each train. Therefore, most trains will have fewer seats available, providing just two coach cars, 17 business class seats and a café car. In some cases, this could result in the availability of just half the number of coach seats as normal. It is uncertain how long this limited seating will remain in place.” Advance booking is recommended until service is fully restored. Check the Cascades website for updates and additional information.
Share this article
