Ties to the Past
by David Stone
"We’re moving," 5-year-old Kale Kunicki said, pressing his nose to the window overlooking the still morning waters of Bellingham Bay, as the train pulled away from the platform.
The 10:20 a.m. train to Seattle slowly moved north a few hundred yards carrying the family of four. The conductor explained the train was switching to the side track to let another train pass. Kale’s father, Dave Kunicki, reminded Kale of the way he operates his own train set at home. Soon the train stopped, switched directions and sped up, sashaying down the tracks on its way to Seattle, the final destination of Kale’s first real train ride.
"Kale is a train nut," Kunicki said. "He’s been asking us if we can go on a ride on a real train."
Kunicki said he regularly travels south to Seattle from Vancouver for business but typically drives, and never considered the train as an alternative to driving the Interstate 5 corridor.
"It’s something you don’t realize until you get on the
train — how pleasant the ride is," he said.
Kunicki’s perception is similar to many people’s: They do not
consider trains as an alternative to I-5.
"A whole generation or two have never ridden the train, they don’t think of it as an alternative to the automobile," said Carlos Schwantes, author of "Railroad Signatures Across the Pacific Northwest."
The railroads had a strong influence on the way we travel and live in
the Northwest today, Schwantes said. The railroads
spatially engineered the Northwest by creating transportation corridors.
"Many of the corridors we use today were promoted by the railway lines," Schwantes said.
In the early days of road building, railroad companies assisted and helped pay for many roads before they were state sponsored, he said. This led to many major roadways paralleling important rail lines, as is the case with I-5.
"The irony was that the railroads didn’t see it coming," Schwantes said. "Railroads never expected competing corridors. People do not always see the consequences of technology."
By the late 1920s the construction of roads and the increasing popularity
of cars started to hurt the railroads, he said.
"It was a snowballing effect," Schwantes said. "As people
got more cars, they wanted more roads. When they had the roads, they wanted
more cars."
Since the 1920s passenger train use has diminished consistently, Schwantes said.
Today an average of 1,365 people get on or off the train in Seattle each day, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Approximately 200,000 vehicles drive on I-5 daily in Seattle, according to the WSDOT 2002 Annual Report.
Kunicki, as well as others, have said one of the largest obstructions to people using the trains is the attitude surrounding cars.
"I think North Americans have had this freedom thing," Kunicki said. "‘I’ll get in my car and do what I want — drive on the highways and roads and be on our own,’ and that is our mentality."
Despite describing the train trip from Bellingham to Seattle as "picturesque," he said the choice would have to be made for him, in the form of laws or a physical disability, before he would quit using his car.
"I am guy who loves to get into my car, my truck and go," he said.
Other passengers on the train that day said they had enough with the roads and now ride the trains almost exclusively.
Jeromey Campbell, 33, and his brother Cody, were traveling on the Bellingham to Seattle train, playing cribbage. Campbell said he hates driving and chooses the train for a variety of reasons.
"You avoid traffic, you don’t have to drive, it’s less expensive than gas, it’s faster than driving and you can play cards the whole time," he said.
Campbell said the train is his preferred way to travel.
"Whenever an opportunity arrives is when I ride it," he said. "I truly hate driving. The only time I drive is if I really have to."
Campbell said he used to frequently drive the I-5 corridor while traveling from Oak Harbor to Bellingham.
"It’s an okay trip," he said. "It’s just not a joy. It’s not something I like to do so I try not to."
The amount and cost of gas for his car is also a factor, Campbell said.
"I have a V-8, my girlfriend has a V-8, my grandparents have a V-8, everyone has got stupid big trucks," he said. "It just costs way too much."
Others enjoy the trains for the amenities and services they provide over other transportation options.
Lauriano Rubio, 32, was riding the train with crewmates from the Alaskan fishing boat he worked on and was going home because the season was over. This was his first trip on a train, though he has ridden the bus several times to get different places.
"The bus is kinda more boring," Rubio said. "I just like
this ride better; you can drink beer and relax."
Rubio’s crew mate Mike Vierra agreed.
"When you are on a train 16 hours, sooner or later you are going to want to pass-out," he said.
Vierra said the train has other benefits including being quieter and faster than most bus routes. The train also has room to stretch out and walk around.
For Rubio the decision seemed cut and dry.
"I like this better because it has beer," he said.
Michael Clarke, 54, is the lead service attendant on the route to Seattle. He serves food and beverages in the dining car.
He said that the reason people don’t choose the train more often is primarily historical.
"When you go back 150 years everybody had their own horses," Clarke said. "They went everywhere, place to place, on their horses. Now they have cars. The train thing never caught on, not like it did in Europe."
Clarke moved to the United States from England in 1982. He said while growing up he got used to riding the trains to and from London to go to school. When he moved to the States, however, he didn’t see a similar system.
"Here, when I came over, I was not really aware there was any sort of regular train system until I started working for Amtrak," Clarke said. "Everybody drives in cars; you don’t see anything advertised about trains."
To get more people to ride the trains, an attitude change is necessary and that change is going to be slow, Clarke said.
"It is such a rich county, and everything is so inexpensive compared to other countries," he said. "I don’t think they realize yet that there has to be some conservation. … People like their cars, they like their SUVs, they like the freedom of going wherever they want, when they want. It’s something they have been doing for 50 years; it’s not something that is going to change overnight."
The case for freight is markedly different.
Many people perceive the railroads as obsolete, but the contrary is actually true, said Gus Melonas, Washington director of public affairs for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads.
"Customers are looking for various alternatives and we are working
to meet that demand," Melonas said.
BNSF operates a mainline railroad that parallels I-5 from Portland to
Seattle and a branch-line that runs along I-5 from Seattle to Bellingham.
Three commuter trains and 50 freight trains run daily between Seattle
and Portland.
Melonas said freight movements are increasing, moving everything from
food and lumber to passengers and chemicals. To meet current demands for
transportation and to compete with trucks, BNSF has been improving tracks
and safety, he said.
Rail freight service also helps keep down the number of trucks on the highways.
Without rail service, more than a million trucks would be added to some sections of interstate and travelers would sit through more than 3 million additional hours of delay on the roads, according to the 2001 Benefits of Rail Freight Study, released by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Current trends suggest that from 1997 to 2020 container shipments through Puget Sound ports will increase 131 percent, according to the study.
While the future of rail freight is set, people disagree on the future of passenger rail service. Some say the shift is inevitable. Others say it is impossible.
"I would say the car has run its course in the United States," said Alfred Runte, historian and a member of the Washington Association of Rail Passengers, a rail advocacy group.
Runte said no matter how many lanes crisscross the land, traffic is always going to be a problem and at some point the switch to trains will be inevitable.
"America is just going to have to grow up and expect scarcity and public transportation," Runte said. "We are suffering from a frontier hangover."
Scarcity of land and materials is going to drive people to the trains because of the costs involved, he said. At some point it is going to cost billions to create more freeways and much less to fund reliable train service. It will then be a simple choice for cities and states. This will lead to developments similar to those in Europe, such as quicker trains and more frequent and reliable service, he said.
Schwantes disagrees with Runte’s predictions.
"I hate to say this because I love riding the trains, but it is not convenient in our modern lifestyle," he said.
Gridlock and gas prices will push people toward the trains, Schwantes said, but the Northwest will never have a European system because people live too far apart. If everyone living west of the Mississippi were moved to live within the borders of Arizona then the population density would be roughly equivalent to England’s — where commuting by train is popular and effective, he said.
"I see the addition of passenger trains in areas of high population density, but I don’t see the comeback of the long distance passenger train," Schwantes said.
Runte said, however, it is just a matter of time before passenger trains will become a necessary alternative.
"Is it going to happen in the next five years? No," Runte said. "Is it going to happen in the next 25 years? Yes."
