OLYMPIA, Wash (AP) – A new government report on high-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest recommends that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia formalize their interest in a Cascadia bullet train by creating an independent body to plan and eventually build it.
The new study built on previous state-sponsored studies that asserted there is sufficient demand for trains running at up to 250 miles per hour between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, BC.
The report said one of the first jobs of the coordinating entity should be to select a technology for the “ultra-high-speed ground transportation” corridor. Options include traditional high-speed rail, magnetic levitation trains or a hyperloop, where passengers move in capsules that are propelled electrically down sealed low air pressure tubes.
Target travel times are about one hour between Portland and Seattle and another hour from Seattle to Vancouver, BC. The top speed of 250 mph for the project is faster than other rail services being planned in North America.