Westside Express Service
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This article or section contains information about a proposed, planned, or expected public transportation infrastructure in the United States. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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| Westside Express Service | |
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| Locale | Washington County, OR |
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| Transit type | Regional commuter railroad |
| Began operation | September, 2008 (estimated)[1] |
| System length | 14.7 mi (23.6 km) |
| Number of lines | 1 |
| Number of stations | 5 |
| Daily ridership | (Under construction) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) (standard gauge) |
| Reporting marks | TMTC |
| Operator(s) | TriMet |
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Westside Express Service is an under-construction 14.7 mile commuter rail line in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area in the USA along Oregon Route 217 and Interstate 5. The trains are planned to start operating in September 2008 on upgraded existing freight rail tracks operated by the Portland & Western Railroad.
After years of delays due to funding, the line received an endorsement of the Federal Transit Administration, resulting in the funding of approximately 50% of the line's capital costs. Track work began October 23, 2006, in Wilsonville and a ceremonial "ground-breaking" was held two days later,[3] although the project had already started and no dirt was moved. The project was called the Washington County Commuter Rail[4] or Wilsonville to Beaverton Commuter Rail[5][6] Project (much of Wilsonville is in Clackamas County) during planning and construction. A contest was held to determine the final name of Westside Express Service.[7][8][9]
Five Colorado Railcar Diesel multiple unit cars have been ordered for use on the line (three powered, two un-powered "dummy cars"). An extension of the line further south to Salem has been proposed.[10]
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[edit] History
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Planning for the rail line began in 1996 when Washington County started an effort to introduce passenger rail service between Beaverton and Wilsonville on the existing Portland & Western freight short line. Commuter rail service was considered particularly attractive because of the potential for cost and time-of-implementation savings gained from utilizing the existing rail line and because of the short line runs parallel to the congested Interstate 5 and Highway 217 corridors. Early in the planning process, it was recognized that passenger rail service using the Portland and Western must co-exist with the existing freight services. The on-line shippers have statutory rights to freight service unless the line is abandoned.
The Environmental Assessment for the Beaverton-Wilsonville corridor was completed in January 2001 and chose a plan calling for a 14.7 mile passenger rail system servicing five stations with 30 minute headways during peak periods. The vast majority of service would run on the existing Portland and Western right-of-way and tracks, requiring track improvements, and approximately 2,000 feet of new track would be constructed at the northern terminus. Passenger rail service would be operated six hours each weekday: three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening commuting period.
Portland and Western’s freight line between Beaverton and Wilsonville was originally built by the Oregon Electric Railway Company. The Oregon Electric (OE) initially provided interurban passenger and freight service on electric rail lines connecting Portland with Salem and Eugene to the south. At the height of service, 33 trains ran between Portland and Wilsonville en route to and from Salem, each day. These electric interurban passenger trains concurrently shared the track with the OE freight operations until passenger service was abandoned in 1933. The system was de-electrified in 1945.
Passenger service returned to a portion of the Oregon Electric right-of-way, however, as TriMet reused the portion of the historic right-of-way between downtown Hillsboro and Beaverton for Westside MAX light rail. Commuter rail trains will connect to the Westside MAX system in Beaverton, but east of where MAX leaves the former OE line. Despite the need for a transfer, more than one fifth of all passengers will use the system for travel to and from downtown Portland using the MAX system.
Presently, active freight service is operated between Beaverton and Wilsonville with a traffic density of less than 1 million gross ton-miles per mile of track per year. The Beaverton to Wilsonville line is part of the P&W’s 520 mile regional system. The equipment currently used on MAX does not comply with Federal Railroad Administration crash-worthiness and other regulations and cannot inter-operate with the P&W freight trains in an unrestricted manner.
In late 2007, the name of the line was official changed to Westside Express Service (WES) after a naming contest.[11] Other names considered included T-REX (Tualatin Valley Regional Express), STAR (Southwest Transit Area Railway), WIRL (Westside Interurban Rail Express), SCOOTER (Suburban Communities Optimal Overland Transit Express Rail), and SWIFT (Southwest Inter-City Fast Train) among others.[11] By December 2007, construction on the rail line was 75% complete.[11] Construction included five new bridges, new railroad ties, and improvements on road crossings.[11]
[edit] Current Status
The system is currently under construction and is anticipated to open for service in September 2008.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ About the Commuter Rail Project. TriMet.
- ^ TriMet (2007-08-16). Project Fact Sheet (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
- ^ TriMet Breaks Ground for Commuter Rail Line. This Week in Passenger Transport. American Public Transportation Association (November 6, 2006).
- ^ Beaverton, Oregon page on project
- ^ Smith Announces FTA Approval of Wilsonville to Beaverton Commuter Rail. Senator Gorden Smith news release (May 10, 2004).
- ^ Washington County page on project
- ^ Name that train! contest, TriMet
- ^ TriMet: Washington County Commuter Rail - Introducing WES
- ^ TriMet reveals new name for Washington County commuter rail. TriMet news release (November 19, 2007).
- ^ Oregon Legislature Assembly 2007 House Bill 2742
- ^ a b c d Jagernauth, David. MAX, say hi to WES. Wilsonville Spokesman, November 21, 2007.
[edit] External links
