Legislative Tracker

OLYMPIA – A $590 million federal grant for high-speed rail means thousands of jobs and dramatic improvements to rail service up and down Washington, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said Jan. 28.
“This grant will create 6,500 jobs in construction and engineering right at a time when we need them the most,” Haugen said. “We’ve had shovel-ready projects just waiting for funding — now we can get people working on them.”
The improvements will increase and quicken mobility for commuters and freight for decades to come. Depending on the terrain and the constraints of more densely populated areas, Amtrak Cascades train speeds will rise from 79 mph to 90 mph, and the number of round trips between Seattle and Portland will eventually be increased to six a day.
“This will not only help us catch up with demand in ridership, it will escalate it,” Haugen said. “We know from studies and past experience that adding more round trips triggers quantum leaps in ridership. People need flexibility and reliability, and you get that by giving them options. We’ve found that if you build it, they will ride.”
In the past 10 years, Amtrak Cascades ridership has shot up by 71 percent and continued to rise even during the recession.
Haugen said the grant is a result of hard work begun by former Rep. Ruth Fischer, who represented Tacoma’s 27th Legislative District from 1983 to 2002.
“This grant is no accident — it took hard work over many years to pass rail projects against all kinds of opposition,” Haugen said. “Now we’re getting returns on those efforts, at the best possible time. But make no mistake: If not for all the rail infrastructure and improvements of past years, we’d never have been in a position to qualify for these funds. We got these funds because we made commitments at a time when some people wanted nothing to do with rail.”