"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.
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 :)
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.
I always thought it was a little odd that they were relying on Spanish technology.
That Talgo set is non compliant with regards to crash specs anyway. It was grandfathered in.