New Amtrak options for travel between Seattle and Portland added

It’s going to get a little bit easier to make the trek between Seattle and Portland starting Dec. 11. Amtrak has announced two new round-trip daily trains between the two cities.

“This significantly increases capacity for riders traveling between the two busiest stops on the Amtrak Cascades route every morning and evening,” Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell said in a statement Wednesday. “These cities along the [Interstate 5] corridor are interconnected, and growing fast — together, Portland and Seattle added nearly a million residents and 700,000 new jobs over the last decade.”

Twelve trains will leave from the two cities all day. That’s a 50% increase from the eight that leave under the current schedule.

“As we increase options for our Pacific Northwest customers, we are thrilled to expand scheduled service to meet customers’ rising demand for train travel,” Amtrak President Roger Harris told the Seattle Times.

The new schedule adds a 5:52 a.m. departure from Seattle and a 6:40 a.m. departure from Portland. A 7:50 p.m. departure from Seattle is being added in the evening. There will also be a new 5:55 p.m. added from Portland.

The trains stop in Tukwila, Tacoma, Olympia/Lacey, Centralia, Kelso/Longview and Vancouver, Washington.

Background: Amtrak resumes service to Vancouver, BC after 2-year hiatus due to border restrictions

Amtrak fully restored service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, in March following a shutdown during the pandemic.

Recently the Seattle to Portland route was shut down due to landslides on the track. The route was shut down from Tuesday, Dec. 5, until Saturday, Dec. 9.