Some Amtrak, Sounder trips could be canceled starting Friday amid worker strike

Jordan Duncan
·2 min read

Amtrak announced Wednesday that it has suspended service on two long-distance trains out of Seattle and Portland, and other disruptions could be on the way as national freight rail labor contract negotiations continue.

Amtrak said the negotiations don’t involve the company or its workforce, but do affect train travel.

Amtrak has suspended the Empire Builder, which travels to Chicago, and the Coast Starlight, which travels to Los Angeles. The company said the suspensions were necessary to make sure trains can reach their terminals before freight service interruption in the case that a resolution isn’t reached in negotiations.

As a precautionary measure, Amtrak has also secured buses for Amtrak Cascades passengers on Thursday to make sure they are not stranded mid-trip. Should a worker strike happen, though, there will be full service disruptions starting Friday, and no buses will be available over the weekend.

Ticketed customers are being notified of the situation, and Amtrak is offering to change their reservation date and waive the difference in fare through Oct. 31, or provide a full refund.

Amtrak said the railways that it operates on in Washington and Oregon are primarily owned by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific, and a strike of those workers would mean Amtrak trains can’t run.

Because Sound Transit’s Sounder trains are operated and unionized by BNSF, the strike would extend to those trains as well. In the event of a national rail strike, Sound Transit said its commuter rail service between Everett, Lakewood and Seattle would be canceled starting Friday until workers return.

Sound Transit said it is working to add bus service to existing ST Express routes that overlap with Sounder routes where possible.

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