This popular Cascade train run through Bellingham is coming back sooner than expected
The popular Amtrak Cascades train service north of Seattle to Bellingham and Vancouver, B.C. will be returning sooner than expected.
The Washington State Department of Transportation announced that service will resume in September, three months earlier than previous estimates. Details about dates and reservations will be available soon, said Janet Matkin, a communications manager for WSDOT, in an email.
The train service, which was halted in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been slow to resume. Even after Canada lifted some key testing restrictions, Amtrak delayed restarting the service because of staffing shortages.
The route from Vancouver, B.C., to Eugene, Oregon, had an annual ridership of more than 800,000 in each of the four years before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019 the number of people who got on or off at the Bellingham station totaled 54,000, according to data from the Washington State Department of Transportation. The Bellingham station also generated $928,000 in ticket sales in 2019.
The north-of-Seattle portion is the second-most popular segment in the Amtrak Cascades system, Matkin said. Along with the trip being beautiful because it is often along the water, it’s particularly popular with those going on cruises out of Seattle and Vancouver.
