Amtrak Will Double Seattle-Vancouver Service
It looks like Amtrak will be running a second daily train between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, starting sometime in August.
The current schedule has one train and four buses running in each direction every day. Train # 510 leaves Seattle at 7:40 every morning, arriving in Vancouver at 11:35 a.m. The southbound train, # 517, leaves Vancouver at 5:45 p.m. and gets to Seattle just after 10 o’clock.
As far as I know, no schedule has yet been announced for the second daily train, but the best guess is that it will be pretty much the reverse of the existing schedule, leaving Vancouver in the morning and departing Seattle in the late afternoon.
The trains will be the Spanish made Taldo equipment which I had a chance to tour when I was in Portland last Fall. It’s good looking, modern, clean and very well designed.
This is good news … first, because any increase in train service is good news. And second, because, with a bus ride as the alternative, there will certainly be demand.
Moral: If you run it, people will come.
My daughter and her Canadian husband just came back from a trip to Vancouver and had no problems at all. Went through U.S. Customs and Immigration at the Vancouver airport. A passport is required these days, of course, but as far as I can tell, no big deal.
Jim, any idea how much of a hassle there is crossing into Canada and coming back these days?
A valid US passport is mandatory, right? Anything else?