Out in the bush, eh?
Posted on 08/03/2007 7:05:44 AM PDT by Bean Counter
Amtrak has announced a major disruption of train service in the Pacific Northwest.
Only train no. 510 and 517, which run between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., will operate. All other Cascade trains between Eugene and Vancouver are cancelled due to safety concerns. An Amtrak representative this morning said the disruption is undefinite.
Rail authorities said a recent mechanical inspection of some Cascades trains led to the decision to suspend service so all Cascade trains can be inspected.
Amtrak officials say they are contacting passengers to alert them of the cancellations. No alternate transportation is being provided. An Amtrak representative said passengers holding unused tickets will receive refunds.
The Coast Starlight, which runs between Seattle and Los Angeles, will operate on its normal schedule.
Passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for additional information and train status updates.
“Hardly remote villages.”
Right you are. I believe there may be a Hudson’s Bay Company outpost in Vancouver and perhaps a salmon cannery.
When the railroads decided to get out of the passenger business in the 1950s and 1960's, they used to charge the entire cost of maintaining the mainline to the passenger trains that were on that route (e.g. Western Pacific's California Zephyr had to pay the entire cost of maintaining their main line from Oakland through the Sierras to Denver, the Coast Daylight and the Lark split the cost of the line from San Francisco to LA, etc.) It was a great way to show the passenger trains were losing money, even though they made money of a marginal basis and even if they were allocated only their share of maintenance including the freight traffic.
Out in the bush, eh?
hmmm, so terrorists are only interested in trains that go between major cities that have large populations between them??? I suppose Seattle is not large enough??
No need to respond, I was just speculating.
"I just happened to be on duty at Centennial Station (Olympia) Thursday evening and received word from the Vancouver (WA) agent that a structural crack was found this morning in the Talgo trainset meant for Train 501. That train was pulled from service this morning for repair. A decision was then made to recall all Talgo trainsets to Seattle for inspection and repair. Trains 501 and 507 were cancelled today with no substitute bus service, but substitute buses were assigned to cover for 509 this evening. All afternoon northbound Talgo runs from Portland to Seattle were run, but Train 516 was terminated at Seattle with substitute buses continuing to all stations north to Bellingham.
"For Friday, buses will be substituted for all trains, except Coast Starlight trains 11 and 14. I have been told by 508's conductor this evening that equipment is being drawn in from elsewhere in the system as quickly as possible to resume the Cascades train runs. We can expect anything from Heritage Fleet on up at this point.
"There has been no determination made as to when the Talgo sets will return to service as of right now."
Bottom line: Cracks were found in the Talgo trainsets owned by WSDOT and operated by Amtrak. They have been taken out of service, and Amtrak is scrambling to find spare equipment from back east to fill in the gaps. No one knows yet how bad the problem is, how or whether it can be fixed easily, or when the trainsets will again be available for service.
Nice, but again, it’s far removed from anywhere else in Canada. The vast majority of population in Canada is on the east side.
Sorry, it’s just not a prime target.
This is just like the MN bridge. People speculating about terrorists. It’s highly unlikely, as the city itself is just plain not a prime target for any reason.
They struck the WTC and the Pentagon - and aimed for the Capitol/WH - for a REASON. They weren’t stupid - and not merely “symbolic” (if they wanted symbolic, why choose the boring albeit big WTC vs. the nearby SOL?). They were great targets to bring down - national government/military, economic center. Not mere symbols.
They still basically exist, so they’d still be top tier.
As I said in the MN thread, these other things would be like 10th-tier. After all the bigger and more important centers are blown up.
Much thanks! I knew I’d come to the right source! Now I’m off to get ready, I’m joining the inaugural s.o.w. d-train run to Kapowsin this morning :)
Also, these trains pass through Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA.
You may recall that the portion of the former California Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City continued to be operated by the Denver & Rio Grande for a number of years after Amtrak was created because that private railroad didn't want the government operated Amtrak screwing up schedules through the mountains.
Yes, but I wouldn’t put those very high up either.
Of course, Seattle - or very near - does have the submarine base.
The population of the City of Vancouver proper is only 700k or so, but if you factor in the metropolitan area, the population soars to over 2 million. It’s also a major port. It’s in direct competition with Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and L.A.
Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 more cities within 700 miles all with populations over 1 million, 2 of them in Canada. If we go to cities of 250k or more, you can add another 5, 3 in Canada.
BTW, the “alternate Capital” (should DC disappear or become unusable) of the USA is a sleepy little town of 20k population that is 40 miles from where I sit.
You might want to read a slightly newer than 1850’s population distribution chart. Yes, there are long stretches of unpopulated land, but have you ever driven the Nevada desert?
Your statement would have been far more accurate had you said the about 75% of the Canadian population lives within 200 miles of the US border.
That’s too bad. I’ve ridden the Cascade a couple of times between Seattle and Portland. The coaches are modern, comfortable and had AC power to run your laptop. Much better than driving if you’re going city center to city center.
OK, so the distribution is a bit better than I thought.
That still doesn’t change my mind that these places are not prime targets (seems everyone is anxious to prove their place is prime target material - or at least, as in PC world, all places are equal), neither Vancouver nor Minneapolis.
Doesn’t mean the jerk-offs wouldn’t do it just for fun; it’s just not bloody likely to be high on their priority lists.
It’s clear in the US the prime targets are DC and New York. It should be intuitively obvious why, regardless of 9/11. They were pretty smart and went beyond even just population matters never mind symbols, although those are part of it.
Vancouver: major port and financial centre.
Edmonton: key staging area for oil and gas production and exploration.
Calgary: business and financial centre for the oilpatch in Canada (the USA’s single largest trade partner, BTW).
Nope, not significant at all. Until the oil stops because someone blew something crucial up.
Fort Lewis, McChord AFB, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Station Everett (Carriers), Bangor Sub Base (Boomers and Attack), Keyport Undersea Warfare Laboratory, Command 13th Naval District, Whidbey Island NAS, USCG Station Seattle (plus several smaller ones), Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt (Command Maritime Forces Pacific), CFB Comox (AFB)... I’m sure there are others.
Piling on. From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest
“Most of the population of the Pacific Northwest is concentrated in the Vancouver-Seattle-Portland corridor. This area is sometimes seen as a megacity (also known as a conurbation, an agglomeration, or a megalopolis). This megacity stretches along Interstate 5 in the states of Oregon and Washington and BC 99 in the province of British Columbia. As of 2004, the combined populations of the Greater Vancouver Lower Mainland, the Seattle metropolitan area and the Portland metropolitan area totaled almost nine million people.”
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