So I have a High Speed Rail proposal for Cascadia and the western U.S/Canada.
It’d be a system where there are many routes using the same corridors. There’d be four types of routes. There’d be routes with trains running at 140mph with stops closer together, serving smaller cities. These would be like commuter rails. There’d be routes with 180mph trains serving the medium sized cities with fewer stops. There’d be 220mph trains, like in France, that serve the major metropolitan areas. Lastly, there’d be express trains, which would just be long distance routes that serve as Point A to Point B with no stops in between, mainly to replace the short distance flights.
Most corridors would just have a pair of tracks, since a well-run high speed rail system can have trains going as often as every three minutes, but for this proposal, say it’s a train every five minutes. So one pair of tracks can take 12 trains an hour. At the stations, there’d be many pairs of tracks, one for each route on a corridor, and a platform for each route that stops at such station, with one pair of bypass tracks for trains that don’t have a stop at a station to just zoom on by. Obviously, you can’t see picture it by reading the way I can see it in my head, so let me cover all the routes so maybe you can picture how it’d work!
On the Interstate 5 corridor, there’d be many routes. You’d have a 180mph route connecting Eugene – Salem – Portland – Fort Vancouver – Tacoma – Seattle – Everett – Bellingham – Surrey B.C – Vancouver B.C. Let’s say that’s Route One. On the same corridor, you’d have 140mph commuter routes. One in the Willamette Valley connecting Portland – Oregon City – Woodburn – Salem – Albany – Corvallis – Eugene. There’d be a Seattle – Tukwila – Tacoma – Olympia – Lacey – Kelso – Fort Vancouver – Portland commuter rail. There’d also be a Salish Coast commuter rail connecting Seattle – Edmonds – Everett – Stanwood – Mount Vernon – Bellingham – White Rock B.C – Surrey B.C – Vancouver B.C. So now, you have the main north coastal Cascadia Eugene to Vancouver B.C route at 180mph, and a 140mph commuter route on each of the three segments. Eugene to Portland segment. Portland to Seattle segment. Seattle to Vancouver B.C segment. Those could be called Route 1A, Route 1B and Route 1C.
Now you also have a south coastal Cascadia 180mph route from Eugene – Roseburg – Medford – Redding – Chico – Sacramento – Bay Area. You’d have your commuter routes on that corridor. A 140mph routes from Eugene – Cottage Grove – Roseburg – Grants Pass – Medford – Ashland. Also a Sacramento – Yuba City – Chico – Red Bluff – Redding – Mt Shasta – Ashland – Medford commuter route at 140mph. Eugene to Sacramento main route is say, Route Two, and the commuter lines are Route 2A and Route 2B. Just roll with it.
Then there’s the 220mph route. That would be Vancouver B.C – Seattle – Tacoma – Portland – Eugene – Medford – Redding – Sacramento – Bay Area. There’d also be a second 220mph route, which would basically be a west coast express serving only the major metro areas, so Vancouver B.C – Seattle – Portland – Sacramento – Bay Area.
So yea, that all is only the Interstate 5 corridor, but let me go over it real quick before I continue on. If the 220 trains go once an hour, that’s more than enough to carry all those who go between Cascadia and the Bay Area. Two routes, once an hour, that’s two trains. Say the Eugene to Vancouver B.C 180mph train is also once an hour, now up to three trains. If each commuter segment has say, a train every half hour, that’s now a total of… five trains per hour on each segment each direction. Oh, not as much as I’d figure. So the tracks are good and they’re moving shit tons of people, let’s continue with my map!
The Interstate 90 corridor. There’d be a 220mph express from Seattle to Spokane. A 180mph route from Seattle – Ellensburg – Moses Lake – Cheney – Spokane – Coeur d’Alene – Missoula – Butte – Bozeman – Billings. There’d be a 140mph commuter rail from Seattle – Issaquah – North Bend – Snoqualmie Pass – Cle Elum – Ellensburg.
Another corridor sharing space with the I-90 corridor for a little while is the I-82/84 corridor. There’d be a 180mph train from Seattle – Ellensburg – Yakima – Tri Cities – Boise – Twin Falls – Salt Lake City. There’d be a 220mph train from Seattle – Tri Cities – Boise – Salt Lake City. So still, the track section from Seattle to Ellensburg, with all those routes, each direction, would still be under 12 trains an hour, meaning just need one pair of HSR tracks going over the pass. From Portland, there’d be a 180mph route along I-84 from Portland – The Dalles – La Grande – Ontario – Nampa – Boise – Twin Falls – Salt Lake City, and the Portland – Boise – Salt Lake City 220mph express.
Other corridors and routes!
There’d be an eastern Oregon 180mph loop, from Portland – Hood River – The Dalles – Bend – Klamath Falls – Medford.
There’d be a central Cascadia corridor, with a 180mph route from Medford – Bend – Tri Cities – Yakima – Ellensburg – Wenatchee – Chelan – Omak – Penticton B.C – Kelowna B.C – Vernon B.C – Kamloops B.C.
Another 180mph route would be Kamloops – Kelowna – Spokane – Pullman – Lewiston – Ontario – Boise – Twin Falls – Salt Lake.
There’d be the Interstate 15 corridor. There’d be 180 routes and 220 routes. A 180mph route would be Salt Lake City – Logan – Pocatello – Idaho Falls – Butte – Helena – Great Falls – Lethbridge Alberta – Calgary – Red Deer – Edmonton. The 220mph route would be Edmonton – Calgary – Butte – Salt Lake City – Las Vegas – Los Angeles.
There’d be a 220 route from Edmonton – Calgary – Spokane – Boise – Reno – Sacramento – Bay Area. There’d also be the Edmonton – Calgary – Spokane – Tri Cities – Portland 220mph route.
You’d have a 220mph route from the Bay Area – Sacramento – Reno – Salt Lake City. A 180mph route from L.A – San Bernardino – Las Vegas – St. George – Provo – Salt Lake City.
There’d be a 220mph express from Phoenix to Las Vegas that connects it to the I-15 routes.
A 180mph route from San Diego – Yuma – Tuscon. Another 180mph route from Tuscon – Phoenix – Palm Springs – L.A, plus a 220mph express from Phoenix to L.A.
You’d have the Bay Area and Sacramento to L.A and San Diego routes.
Lastly, the Canadian routes. There’d be a 220mph route from Vancouver – Surrey – Abbotsford – Kamloops – Calgary. There’d also be a 180mph route from Vancouver – Surrey – Abbotsford – Kelowna. On Vancouver Island, there’d be a 140mph commuter rail from Victoria – Duncan – Nanaimo – Parksville – Comox – Campbell River – Port McNeill – Port Hardy.
So yea. That’s my western U.S/Canada high speed rail proposal. There’d be high speed rail of different speeds connecting all the small to big cities, allowing you to literally go anywhere without a car or flying. Being the tracks would just be for the passenger trains, all the corridors would just need a pair of tracks. The stations would be big, since each route on a corridor requires its own platform. Wherever you’re going, there’d be a train every hour all day long, so you could go whenever you want just like with a car. This high speed rail system eliminate short haul flights out west and reduce driving significantly by offering similar if not superior freedom of mobility in terms of frequent trains. It’d also allow people more options in terms of where to live. I could go on but yea, this is my idea of high speed rail in the western part of the continent.
adamkendall2 