"Portland Terminal Railroad" redirects here. For the terminal railroad in the Portland, Maine area, see
Portland Terminal Company.
Rail transportation is an important element of the transportation network in the
U.S. state of Oregon.
Rail transportation has existed in
Oregon in some form since 1855,[1][2] and the state was a pioneer in development of
electric railway systems. While the automobile has displaced many uses of rail in the state (as elsewhere), rail remains a key means of moving passengers and freight, both within the state and to points beyond its borders.
As of 2004, the state of Oregon has over 2,400 mi (3,862 km) (route-miles) of track, and 170 mi (274 km) of railroad
right-of-way after peaking in the 1930s at about 4,350 miles (7,001 km) of track.[5] Oregon is served by two
Class 1 railroads, which account for over 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of trackage, and over twenty Class 2 and Class 3 operators. Three
Amtrak routes serve the state, primarily through the
Willamette Valley and south-central Oregon.[6] Rail is a key element of the
mass transit system in the city of
Portland and surrounding communities. And numerous tourist railways operate in the state.
In addition to the mainlines, the UPRR also operates several branch lines in the state, serving the terminal district of Portland, the city of
Umatilla, and the community of
Pilot Rock.
BNSF
The BNSF operates one significant mainline in the state, serving
Central Oregon. The BNSF line enters the state southeast of
Klamath Falls, joining the UPRR mainline there. The two lines share trackage between Klamath Falls and Chemult until the UPRR branches off towards Eugene; the BNSF continues in a northeasterly direction through central Oregon, providing service to
Bend,
Redmond and
Madras. The line continues north of Madras along the
Deschutes River until it interchanges with the UPRR mainline east of The Dalles; it then crosses the
Columbia River and intersects with the BNSF mainline on the Washington side.
The BNSF also operates a mainline in the Portland area which is a key rail link despite having only approximately ten miles of trackage in Oregon; this link crosses the Columbia River into Vancouver, connecting with the BNSF line heading north to
Seattle, as well as the BNSF line heading east along the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge, towards the
Tri-Cities and Spokane. (Eastbound Amtrak service from Portland crosses into Vancouver and uses the BNSF tracks, not the UPRR tracks in Oregon.)
Portland Terminal Railroad
The Portland Terminal Railroad (PTRC) is a
jointterminal railroad of the UPRR and the BNSF, which operates several key rail lines, as well as the
Guild's Lake Yard, within the city of Portland. The PTRR facilitates interchange between the two Class 1 railroads; each railways' trains are considered "home" while on PTRC trackage.[7] It was called the Northern Pacific Terminal Company until changing its name to the Portland Terminal Railroad Company in 1965, at which time it was jointly owned by the
Northern Pacific, Union Pacific and
Southern Pacific railroads.[8]
In addition to the two Class 1 carriers, there are numerous short line operators in the state of Oregon, with miles of trackage. Many places in Oregon, such as
Washington,
Yamhill,
Polk, and
Benton counties in the Willamette Valley; numerous communities in the Cascade foothills, the
Oregon Coast, all of Southwestern Oregon, and the
Wallowa Mountains, are not reachable via the Class 1 mainlines.
Goose Lake Railway (GOOS). GOOS operates a 55-mile line from Lakeview, OR to Alturas, CA for the Lake County and 60 miles of line from Alturas, CA to Perez, CA for Union Pacific Railroad.[14]
Oregon Pacific Railroad. Operates two branch lines off the UPRR mainline, one serving the
Sellwood neighborhood of Portland; the other connecting
Liberal to the mainline in
Canby.
Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad (POTB). Operated between
Tillamook and the Portland metropolitan area, interchanging with the PNWR in Washington County,[19] until a December 2007 storm caused extensive damage to its main line that has not been repaired.
Rail is also used in the state to provide both long-haul passenger service, as well as commuter and intra-urban transit, and excursion trains.
Amtrak
Long-haul passenger service is provided by
Amtrak, which operates in Oregon on the north-south Union Pacific mainline south of Portland, and on BNSF tracks into Washington to the north and east.
Three Amtrak routes provide service to Oregon:
The Empire Builder, running from Portland to
Chicago, Illinois, provides service to Portland. Immediately after departing Portland, the train crosses into Washington, and does not serve any other Oregon community.[24]
The
MAX Light Rail system, a 52.4-mile (84.3 km)
light rail system operated by
TriMet (the transit authority for the Portland area), presently serves the cities of Portland,
Beaverton,
Hillsboro, and
Gresham on four separate lines. The first line opened in 1986, running for 15 miles (24 km) east from
downtown Portland to Gresham. A second line opened in 1998, extending the system west from downtown to Beaverton and Hillsboro, and this was operated as an extension of the eastside line, the combined route being designated the
Blue Line in 2000–2001.[25] The
Red Line opened in 2001, providing service to
Portland International Airport; the
Yellow Line opened in 2004, with service to north Portland; and the
Green Line opened in 2009, with service to
Clackamas. In 2015, service was extended to
Milwaukie, with the opening of the
Orange Line.[26] Planning is under way for an extension of MAX through Southwest Portland and
Tigard to
Bridgeport Village, in northern
Tualatin, known for now as the Southwest Corridor Project.
The
Portland Streetcar is an electrically powered
streetcar (or
tram) system with two lines, which serves downtown Portland and adjacent areas. The first line, opened in 2001 and later designated the
NS Line, runs between the
Northwest district and the
South Waterfront district, also providing service to the
Pearl District and
Portland State University (PSU). Unlike MAX, which primarily runs in its own
right-of-way, the streetcar shares most of its right-of-way with vehicular traffic. A second line, the CL Line, was opened in 2012, serving the Central Eastside District and the
Lloyd District before crossing the
Broadway Bridge to join the NS Line and follow its downtown section south as far as PSU. Although CL was short for Central Loop, the line was not a complete loop until 2015, when the opening of the
Tilikum Crossing bridge across the Willamette River (as part of the MAX Orange Line project) allowed its two southern ends to be connected. The CL line was extended across the new bridge and renamed
Loop Service, with the clockwise service being the A Loop and the counterclockwise service being the B Loop. The streetcar system interchanges with both the MAX system and the
Portland Aerial Tram, an aerial cableway that opened to the public in 2007.[27] The NS Line has been and extended three times since its 2001 opening and is currently 4 miles (6.4 km) end-to-end. The CL line extended the system by 3.3 miles (5.3 km) in 2012, and its 2015 extension added another 0.55 miles (0.9 km) of new route to the streetcar system.
The
Westside Express Service is a 14.7-mile (23.7 km) diesel-powered
commuter rail service which began operating in early 2009 and runs between the cities of Beaverton and
Wilsonville on previously existing freight trackage. It has three intermediate stops, two of which serve the cities of
Tigard and
Tualatin, and connects with MAX at the
Beaverton Transit Center. The vehicles are operated by
Portland and Western Railroad under contract with TriMet, but the transit agency owns the
DMU-type rail cars and maintenance facility (and employs the vehicle maintenance personnel), and most funding for operations comes from TriMet.
Tourist railways
Numerous tourist and excursion, and
heritage railways operate in the state of Oregon. Among them are:
^"Systems News [regular news section]". Tramways & Urban Transit. UK:
Ian Allan Publishing. December 2000. p. 471.
ISSN1460-8324. With the light rail system due to expand to two services in September 2001, and three in 2004 (with all three using the same routing and stops in the city centre), Tri-Met has decided to assign route colours as follows ...