Monthly Archives: May 2013

The new Oregon TRail (Part 1)

Oregon is planning for a new passenger rail route running from Eugene to Portland, that links up with Washington’s system.  A series of public forums are being called and a variety of citizen groups have been invited to learn about the options under consideration and make comments.  Casprail.org was one of those groups.

Several routes are under consideration, ranging from keeping the current route (shared with freight) to a new route of new and refurbished rails running primarily passenger-only, and connecting with towns that have been bypassed for 50 years.  A route up interstate 5 is a likely candidate due to its’ ‘practicalness’, but it would continue to bypass important population centers.

I will describe the route options and mine, and other opinions expressed at the Albany-Corvallis forum in a serials of blog posts.  I hope to hear your comments and opinions –

Larry (Chief Advocate, Casprail.org)

P.S: to read about Oregon’s two new Talgo trainsets and view a video, go to: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/pages/talgohome.aspx