New Amtrak ‘trainsets’ coming to Bellingham with more seats but not more service
New modern train cars are being added to the Amtrak Cascades route later this year, but service won’t be expanded despite increasing demand in the growing Northwest railroad corridor, officials said last week.
These new “trainsets” can carry more passengers, Amtrak and Washington State Department of Transportation officials said in recent statements.
“There will not be any additional trains through Bellingham in the near future. These new trainsets are to replace existing aging trains, not to expand the number of trips offered,” WSDOT spokeswoman Janet Matkin told The Bellingham Herald. Malkin is with WSDOT’s Rail, Freight and Ports division. Amtrak operates the Northwest route from Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C., in partnership with WSDOT and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
A trainset consists of three coach cars — a business car, a cafe car and a cab car, Matkin said in an email.
“A cab car is at the other end of the train from the locomotive and serves as the lead car when the train is traveling in the opposite direction. It might even look like a locomotive, but it has no power — that is provided by the locomotive that is at the rear position when traveling in the push mode rather than the pull mode. This push-pull configuration means the train does not have to turn around when making a return trip. The engineer drives the train from the cab car when it is in the lead,” she said.
There are four trains daily through Bellingham, two in the morning and two in the evening, headed north to Vancouver, B.C., or south to Seattle. New Airo trains coming into service this year will hold 300 passengers, as opposed to the old Talgo trains that seat 272 passengers and the AmFleet trains that seat 161 passengers, Matkin said. The new trains are going through testing in several parts of the country before they join the Amtrak Cascades route.
On the Cascades route there will be eight new trainsets, two new locomotives and a spare cab car, Amtrak said at its website.
Airo trains have a streamlined appearance and will have wheelchair spots, a new cafe car, “comfy” seats with moveable headrests, individual outlets, USB ports, free Wi-Fi, better lighting and digital information displays, automated steps and touchless restroom controls in six large restrooms, Amtrak said.
Ridership on the Amtrak Cascades route through Bellingham remained steady for fiscal year 2024-2025, despite a setback that threatened to derail its popularity earlier this year.
Service linking Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C., grew by 1.26% for the period of October 2024 to September 2025, according to figures from the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation, which jointly manage and fund the rail service.
In March 2025, Amtrak removed almost all of its passenger train cars in the Northwest from service, turning the growing Cascades railroad corridor into a bus route for several months. The national passenger rail carrier cited safety concerns in a statement explaining that corrosion was found during inspections.
Nationwide, Amtrak saw both record revenue and ridership, recording 34.5 million customer trips for fiscal year 2024-2025.
