Taking a short cut

Amtrak will make a rare change to its route between Seattle and Los Angeles on December 18.  The change will eliminate the traditional circuitous routing through Tacoma, around Point Defiance, under the Tacoma Narrows bridge(s), and then inland to cross over I-5 and head south.  Instead, new tracks will enable trains to head directly south from Tacoma, following I-5.

I have taken trains south from Seattle for decades.  Frequent travel by train from Seattle to my home town, just north of Portland, while a graduate and law student.  Vacation travel since then, either to Martinez, where I'd be met by a relative for the drive to Sonoma, or to Burbank, where other relatives lived.

I've always enjoyed the route, following Puget Sound, that is about to be eliminated.  It was familiar, and  I perhaps didn't exclaim at its beauty, as a tourist might.  But I'd look up from my reading and watch, especially as the train went through two shoreline tunnels, and then under the impressive Narrows suspension bridge.

I often wondered why Amtrak chose to follow such an indirect route, even for the short twenty miles that it did.  The reason, as I now understand, is that, until this month with the completion of new tracks, there was no shorter route available.  The new route will take only about ten minutes off the scheduled time -- but because of conflicts with BNSF freight traffic, actual delays from scheduled time were often much longer.  Also, Amtrak will be able to run more frequent Cascades regional service, now that the Tacoma bottleneck will be eliminated.

I'm always happy when Amtrak improves service.  But I'm sorry to lose one of the more scenic segments of the route south.  Amtrak's trains -- both the long distance Coast Starlight and the regional Cascades -- are booking up with travelers who want one last look at the old route.

Unfortunately, my train trip to California on the Coast Starlight is booked for December 22 -- four days after the switch-over.  Or maybe, "fortunately" -- I'll be one of the earlier patrons to travel the new route. 

"I'd rather keep the views and lose the minutes," a Kelso WA passenger commented to a Seattle Times reporter.  I fully understand that reaction, but -- if asked -- I'd vote to approve the new route.