Washington State, BNSF sign agreement, rail projects to move ahead
Written by jrood
An agreement signed by the Washington State Department of Transportation and BNSF clears the way for work to begin on rail upgrades that will improve Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle and Portland. The state can begin initial work this fall using some of the $781 million in federal grants awarded to Washington in the past two years. This money is part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act high-speed-rail grants administered by the Federal Railroad Administration. The ARRA money will be used to purchase new locomotives and passenger coaches, as well as build bypass tracks and make upgrades to existing tracks shared by Amtrak and BNSF. Two Amtrak Cascades daily roundtrips between Seattle and Portland will be added as well. The first rail-improvement project will occur in Everett, where two new tracks will be built for freight trains entering the rail terminal, taking them out of the way of oncoming passenger trains. This agreement sets up a clear contractual relationship between WSDOT and BNSF. As such, it outlines mutually agreed upon requirements and performance measures, including project schedules and budgets, contracting methods, procurement and purchasing processes and budget and billing procedures, among other things. "This is an important step towards improving the trackage infrastructure to help meet current and future demands for both passenger and freight rail service," said BNSF Chairman and CEO Matt Rose.
