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In October 2008, Oregon's first true commuter rail service is scheduled to become part of the Portland area's future, carrying passengers around the metropolitan area and helping remove traffic from the region's congested highway network. It represents the long efforts of local government, civic and transit advocacy groups. |
| The service, known as Westside Express Service or WES, will operate between Beaverton and Wilsonville, using a combination of new and rebuilt trackage. This includes portions of the former Southern Pacific Tillamook Branch from Beaverton to Tigard, and the former Burlington Northern (Oregon Electric) line from Tigard to Wilsonville. These lines are currently operated by the Portland & Western Railroad. |
| Service is tentatively scheduled to begin Oct. 20. TriMet will operate it in partnership with the Portland & Western. The initial schedule has 16 round trips (eight each during the morning and evening rush hours). Trains will operate in both directions every 30 minutes, and will take approximately 27 minutes to run between the two endpoints. |  |
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At the north end of the route, service will begin at the Beaverton Transit Center, providing direct connections to two MAX routes (the Gresham-Hillsboro Blue Line and the Beaverton-Portland International Airport Red Line) and 11 bus lines. To reach the transit center, construction crews laid a new stretch of track along SW Lombard Street in downtown Beaverton from the existing right-of-way. |
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Three intermediate stops are currently under construction. These are Hall-Nimbus, off Hall Boulevard near the Washington Square shopping complex; Tigard, on SW Commercial Street at the Tigard Transit Center; and Tualatin, along SW Boones Ferry Road on the west side of the downtown area. Park-and-ride lots will be available at all stops except Beaverton TC. |
| The Tigard stop will also provide direct connections to five TriMet bus routes. The Wilsonville terminus, on SW Barber Street, will provide connections to three bus systems: South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART); Canby Area Transit (CAT); and Salem Area Transit (Cherriots). |
| TriMet and the Oregon Department of Transportation sponsored a demonstration service on portions of this route as early as 1998. On Sep. 12-13, these trains operated in conjunction with the opening of the Westside MAX light rail line between Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro. |  |
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They connected with MAX trains at the Beaverton Creek light rail station using an adjacent freight spur. The trains used equipment provided by the Willamette & Pacific RR and the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. |
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The project has received both state and federal funding; construction began in October 2006, and included the reconstruction of most of the grade crossings along the route, as well as installation of centralized traffic control, concrete crossties and continuous welded rail. |
| A new two-main-track alignment was added through Beaverton at the north end of the route. The newly-added track diverges from the existing former SP track at Lombard Street. Addditional stretches of double track were added between Tigard and Tualatin, and in Wilsonville just north of the station. Construction crews also built a maintenance shop in Wilsonville adjacent to the rail station. |
| The project also included a major right-of-way relocation through downtown Tigard. The former OE line was relocated next to the former SP, forming a single two-track right-of-way. The old OE right-of-way was removed. A new connection between the two lines was installed north of the Tigard stop. |  |
| A unique feature found at the three intermediate stops is the addition of a "gantlet" track section alongside the high-level platforms. This will allow P&W trains with high-and-wide freight cars to operate through the station areas without hitting the platforms. P&W also received a Connect Oregon grant from the state to construct a small freight yard along the former SP line south of the Tigard Transit Center. |
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TriMet has purchased three single-level diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcars and a cab-equipped trailer coach from Colorado Railcar. The rolling stock will enable them to provide both one-car and two-car trains. The first two cars (DMU #1001 and trailer coach #2001) arrived at the Wilsonville shops June 19. |
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The design is based on Colorado Railcar's Aero DMU, which demonstrated in the Portland area in November 2002. |
| Historically, the former SP portions of the route were part of the extensive Red Electric interurban network that operated from 1915 to 1929. The former BN portions were part of the Oregon Electric interurban system that operated until 1933. |  |
The $117.3 million project is funded by: $58.65 million in federal funding |
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Meanwhile, officials in the Salem-Keizer area are looking into an eventual extension of this route all the way to Salem. South of Wilsonville, a future route would continue along the old OE line through Donald, West Woodburn, Waconda and Keizer. |
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Portland & Western will handle dispatching for the route from its operations center in Albany, Ore. Additional information, including tentative initial schedules and a safety video, is available at the TriMet web site. |
| To navigate through the site, just click on one of the links in our image map. | |
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