By KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Amtrak said it’s pulling its fleet of “Horizon” railcars from several lines, including the Amtrak Cascades route, after the company and the manufacturer discovered safety concerns due to corrosion. The rail service has scheduled buses to transport passengers on the impacted Cascades trips for the time being.
Amtrak customer Gordon Matthews was planning a 500-mile trip from Vancouver, Wash. to Wenatchee on Wednesday. But when he got to the Vancouver Station, Amtrak staff told him the Cascades service was canceled.
“They said they had no clue what was going on,” Matthews said. “Just that at least for today they were all buses. Could be for the week. Could be forever.”
The “Talgo VI” railcars, which were previously used on the Cascades route, were pulled after derailing on a bridge over Interstate 5 in DuPont, Wash. in 2017. Three people were killed in the crash.
The Horizon cars were then brought in from the Midwest for the Cascades run, which moves up and down the I-5 corridor. But now they’ve been canceled due to the corrosion issue. The Cascades route is scheduled to get new “Airo” railcars in 2026.
“This leaves just one non-Horizon trainset in service on Amtrak Cascades. This affects nearly all trips on Amtrak Cascades daily service to 18 stations between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Eugene, Oregon,” the notice read. “In the short-term, buses have been secured to transport passengers to their destinations through March 30. The only trips that will be served by the one remaining non-Horizon train are #503 and #508 traveling daily between Seattle and Eugene.”
Amtrak said once the corrosion was discovered, the agency decided to remove the train cars from service and notify the Federal Railroad Administration.
Other routes, including the Downeaster, Hiawatha and Borealis, are also impacted.
FRA spokesperson Warren Flatau confirmed that corrosion damage was discovered on at least 10 Horizon fleet cars.
“This is prompting a fuller inspection of the entire Horizon fleet to ascertain whether similar conditions are present,” he told OPB.
The decision to pull the cars is expected to have a major impact on regional services that rely on the equipment across the country.
Amtrak is trying to figure out how to replace the grounded trains by redistributing other trains in its national fleet. The service said it will notify Washington and Oregon as soon as a plan is in place.
Matthews, who said he rides the Cascades every chance he gets, was refunded his $100 ticket and said he plans to drive the 500-mile journey instead.
Not answered is why the Talgo cars weren’t restored to service after that earlier crash. Did they contribute to the crash and/or subsequent derailment? Were they damaged beyond repair? Money problems?