Woodinville Subdivision

The Woodinville Subdivision is a railroad line that is owned by BNSF Railway and takes its names from one of its original end points in Woodinville, USA. The line extends approximately convert|42|mi in east King County and Snohomish County. The line is currently included in a proposed land swap between the Port of Seattle and the King County government where the Port agrees to purchase the line from BNSF and trade it for King County International Airport. If the deal goes through, King County is proposing to tear out most of the track and convert the trackbed into a bicycle trail.

Route

The railroad begins in Renton and runs north along the shore of Lake Washington through Bellevue and several smaller cities before reaching its northern terminus in the small city of Snohomish. It was completed more than a century ago and is still used daily by local freight trains and until recently, the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, a popular and profitable tourist attraction. However, the Spirit of Washington's current contract to use the railroad ended on July 31 2007 and efforts to renew it have not been successful to date. [cite news| url=http://www.kirotv.com/news/11202743/detail.html| title=Group Wants Dinner Train To Relocate To Snohomish| publisher=KIRO| date=2007-03-08| accessdate=2008-04-09| ]

The railroad is mostly single tracked with a few passing sidings to allow trains to pass each other and spurs for local industries. There is also a branch line from Woodinville to downtown Redmond, which is a remnant of a former main line to the East. A major feature of the railroad is the spectacular Wilburton Trestle, which was originally constructed in 1904 and is the longest wooden trestle currently in use in the Northwest.

Uses

The line is primarily used for local freight traffic, but Boeing uses the line to deliver 737 fuselages to its Renton plant from its supplier in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit AeroSystems. The line also serves as a bypass during outages for the only other north-south rail route between the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound, the Seattle Subdivision, which runs through downtown Seattle. The line is also used by trains whose loads are too bulky to fit through the century old Great Northern Tunnel that runs under downtown Seattle. However, when the line is used as a bypass, its sharp curves, at-grade street crossings, and poor condition requires trains to keep speeds to no more than convert|30|mph|lk=on|abbr=on. After a rainstorm washed out part of the Seattle line in 1997, a freight train derailed navigating the line as a bypass. [cite news| url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003547239_railline30m.html| title=Rail-to-trail plan sparks debate over Eastside line| publisher=The Seattle Times| author=Ervin, Keith| date=2007-01-30| accessdate=2008-04-09| ]

Proposed sale and dismantling

In 2003, BNSF announced that it was looking to sell the line because of declining freight revenues and rising maintenance costs. King County, in which the southern half of the line is located, is currently negotiating for the purchase of the railroad for the stated purpose of keeping the right of way intact for possible future transit use but replacing most of the track with a bicycle trail.

There is widespread public support for preventing the right of way from being sold off piecemeal. However, there is growing opposition to the plan to dismantle the railroad and replace it with a bicycle trail. This is a result of concern about the economic harm from the loss of the dinner train and freight service and the interest in using the railroad to create a commuter rail connecting east King County cities that are currently only serviced by buses and the heavily congested I-405 freeway.

Another reason for the opposition to replacing the tracks by a trail is that it would involve an expenditure of approximately $66 million of public funds at a time when the County has been closing parks because it claims that it has insufficient funds to keep them open. Moreover, most of the right of way is about 100 feet wide, which is more than sufficient for both the tracks and a trail.

Freeway Widening

In June 2008 work commenced on the widening of the I-405 freeway south of Bellevue. As a result, the line was severed at the point at which it crosses the southbound lanes. Currently there are no plans to reinstate the track after the widening project is completed. Trains for the Boeing plant at Renton have been diverted to enter the factory from the south. A bridge north of Renton depot was replaced in order to accommodate the width of the Boeing 737 fuselages transported by rail. Trains continue to serve Woodinville from the north.

References

External links

* [http://www.eastsiderailnow.org/route.html The Eastside Railroad Route]