Quote:
Originally Posted by 65MAX
Besides the east side transit hub at the Rose Quarter/ Memorial Coliseum (which I agree with), what is the "right" way to do HSR thru North Portland? And how do we get it south without going through established neighborhoods? Same route as Amtrak?
BTW- Oregon City has the official rights to the "End of the Oregon Trail" title.
|
Probably via a tunnel; there is an existing rail tunnel that separates St Johns from NoPo that probably needs to be expanded to double-tracked.
However, to get to Vancouver, trains have to (right now) traverse the NW Industrial rail yards, and cross over several bridges over the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. These bridges should immediately be double-tracked, upgraded for improved speed and seismic, and the swing spans need to be replaced with modern technology.
I'm not completely sold that a HSR station should be on the eastside, although if it does happen, the Memorial Coliseum would be an excellent building to rehab for it (iconic building, large spaces).
I remember the HSR stations in Brussels were underground, I think they had 2 in the central city. Trains in dedicated tunnels can penetrate right into the city proper and put passengers where they need to be - right in the thick of things. Would be expensive, but potentially worth it.
I don't think there is any room on the surface to place a HSR station on the eastside anyways; it would likely need to be underground anyway. Unless you built it along the waterfront next to Interstate Ave... but the trains might be too long for the site (usually being 800' - 1500' long).
I don't know if MAX service would be able to handle the volume of passengers debarking from a HSR train from Seattle if everyone is trying to go to downtown... could be over 500-1000 people all at once trying to board a MAX. And with the Amtrak Cascades consistently sold out in peak travel periods, like Xmas and Thanksgiving, this could really be a problem.
I don't see whats wrong with the existing Amtrak station in downtown; they are even going to add another track there to allow more trains through it. It just needs some maintenance to fix it up, although it is a bit small... Would be nice if it had a proper train shed to keep passengers dry
Threaded Mode