I’m finally getting around to posting information regarding this project. I was unable to attend the meeting but I did get some notes from it. It has hit some curve balls and there is concern on the train departing Tacoma after the demise of the Spirit of Washington Dinner train and the Golden Pacific Railroad both which suffered with lack of destination.
Upgrading the Rail from Tacoma to Elbe would cost around $11 million dollars and from Tacoma to Ashford would be around $24 million dollars. This would use the existing Tacoma Rail locomotives and 3 passenger cars they have.
Here are some key notes;
• The train is feasible as long as the one-way travel time to Paradise is three hours or less.
• In order to be successful, the train would need to capture just 1 percent of the roughly 1.5 million visitors the national park receives each year. Assuming this is around 15,000 passengers a year.
• Upgrading the track to Elbe would cost just $11 million, while extending it to Ashford would cost approximately $24 million. In either case, visitors would ride a shuttle bus to Paradise.
• Tacoma Rail should start looking for a third-party operator interested in running the train, and Tacoma officials should continue to seek federal funding to pay for track improvements.
• A tourist train would provide park visitors with an environmentally sensitive alternative to the automobile.
By upgrading the rail from Tacoma to Elbe/Park Jct. and the rail recently upgraded from Mineral to Morton would improve the timeliness of freight rail to Morton.
It was also made public that the Mountain Division has $4.55 million in outstanding loans from the city’s general fund, and is asking for an additional $1.7 million. In addition, it has $2 million of outside debt. This is not including the cost for repairing and/or rebuilding the Nisqually River Bridge which would restore freight service into Morton and the 3 lumber mills looking for rail service.
There is also talk of having Boeing getting rail service into Fredrickson for the Next Generation 737’s coming around in 2012.
On top of all of this, there is study out for a $72.5 million dollar trail from Freighthouse Square to Elbe. Who and why would somebody be crazy enough to ride this is beyond me but it would follow the rail corridor into Elbe.
Train to the Mountain Article
[url]http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/tacoma/story/221207.html[/url]
Trail to the Mountain Article
[url]http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/218562.html[/url]