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From the Business Examiner:
“A Washington State Department of Transportation proposal to reroute Amtrak Cascades to a less congested route between Seattle and Portland just received approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.

Currently, passenger trains must slow down due to curves and single-track tunnels on the BNSF Railway main line near Point Defiance. The proposed and now approved $89 million Point Defiance Bypass project will shift passenger trains to an existing rail line along I-5, through Tacoma, Lakewood and DuPont.

The FRA [Federal Railroad Administration] evaluated WSDOT’s environmental assessment and found no significant adverse impacts to the environment because of the proposal. Now, WSDOT’s project team will advance design work to reroute the trains; construction is expected to kick off in 2015, and the new route is projected to be in service in 2017.”
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Read more from WSDOT on the Point Defiance Bypass project.
“Sound Transit currently uses a portion of this route for Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood.”
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– Glenn Farley of KING-5 News in Seattle filed this report:
“Amtrak to run higher speed trains on Fort Lewis shortcut”
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