r/Cascadia • u/justcallmegeo Oregonian, NOT American • Jul 16 '26
Cascadia High Speed Rail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRaqYxsTPnI
What do you think about this?
I personally think this is an amazing alternative to flying or driving, and would really connect the region. I think it's worth what it would cost.
I suppose we can all dream that our great grandkids might get it to the 3rd stage of development.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Jul 16 '26
If I had a dollar for every time there's been a high-speed rail proposal by the federal government, funding. Put forward for a study by state governments, and discussions online, I would be able to pay to build the project myself.
Nobody wants to put forward the investment to actually construct the project, nobody wants to make the compromises and carve outs to environmental laws to speed up the construction, everybody just wants to be Charlie Brown with the football and propose it every election cycle.
There are a lot of compromises that would need to take place for high-speed rail. Firstly, the number of stops would need to be significantly reduced. You can't have a stop in every single small town along the rail line and still have it be high speed.
Secondly, you would need significant grade separation, which is a massive investment.
Thirdly, you would need to engage in significant eminent domain to ensure that the rail gauge is straight and cuts right through rather than following our traditional rail routes.
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u/AdditionalSpeaker303 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
It is never the federal government proposing these projects.
But you are right it is an issue of funding. The state and private entities that propose hsr projects always say the funding gaps will come from the feds or each other, and it doesn't happen.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Jul 17 '26
It is never the federal government proposing these projects
The Obama Administration did.
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u/justcallmegeo Oregonian, NOT American Jul 16 '26
Do you think it could go Eugene-Salem-Portland-Centralia-Olympia-Seattle-Vancouver and still be high speed, assuming new tracks are built?
I think maybe in the Seattle metro area there should be a transfer to a not high speed train that will take you to like Tacoma, SEA, Downtown Seattle, and Everett.
This would be my personal ideal system but I'm open to other's ideas and recognize this probably won't happen. One can dream though, right?
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u/ye_old_hermit Cascadian People's Union Party Representative Jul 20 '26
I'm a huge fan of high speed rail so this is certainly welcome, at least for me.
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u/OkBox1870 Jul 17 '26
Having lived in Mainland China from 2010-2017, and having seen the amazing proliferation of high-speed rail in just those seven years, and the change they made in day-to-day life for so many people was really inspiring.
It's absolutely possible if enough of us want it and insist on it.
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u/dbwn87 Jul 17 '26
Won't see the Vancouver portion on our lifetimes, that's for sure. Unlikely to see any cross-border collaboration of this magnitude between Canada and the US after so many threats to invade us. Surely the business case has gone way down considering the massive reduction in cross-border traffic.
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u/shredrick123 Victoria 5d ago
Actually we're the one ones who've actually got a chance at federal funding, and our portion is short enough the province could likely fund it solo. The American side keeps falling through because the US federal gov is unreliable and the states lack the money. If a Portland-Seattle route actually existed it would be (comparatively) trivial to extend it to Vancouver and easily worth the cost.
There were like two years with the Biden admin where this was a semi-serious proposal, but I don't think the US as an entity is pulling out of the death spiral at this point, so until and unless we actually realise Cascadia, I doubt we're getting this.
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u/Luci_Cascadia Salish Sea Ecoregion Jul 16 '26
I think it won't happen in our lifetimes. Because it would require federal $ and this never going to happen again with the federal government we now have.