This story originally appeared in the Washington State Standard and is used with permission.
The strained Amtrak Cascades rail service is on track to have limited capacity to carry the crowds expected to descend on the Pacific Northwest for the upcoming men’s World Cup.
Sleek new, amenity-packed “Airo” trains are still undergoing testing back East and will not get here in time to haul legions of international soccer fans. Amtrak Executive Vice President Laura Mason told reporters Thursday that while the testing is going well, the rail operator won’t rush brand-new equipment into service.
“We considered what we could do, but I think it’s really important to make sure that the trainset is really fit and ready for service, and that the crews are ready to operate it,” Mason said. “That’s why we are recognizing that it’s not going to be here for the World Cup.”
Amtrak and the rail divisions of Oregon and Washington state were careful never to promise the next-generation trains would enter service in time for the FIFA World Cup. They would only say the first trains are due sometime in 2026.
Mason updated the timeframe by predicting the debut of the first new Airo train in revenue service will happen on the Amtrak Cascades line in late summer or fall.
In total, eight new trainsets, two new locomotives, and a spare cab car are coming to the Pacific Northwest. Amtrak placed a large order for new trains in 2021 as part of a nationwide modernization campaign. The Amtrak Cascades service is the first in line to receive next-generation railcars from the national fleet renewal order.
“This new fleet is a big step forward,” Mason said.
The leader of a rail passenger advocacy group said it was disheartening that the fleet modernization won’t happen in time for the World Cup, but that this news was expected by railfans who have been closely following the debut of the new trains.
“I would have loved to see it. It just didn’t come to pass,” All Aboard Washington Executive Director Charles Hamilton said. “I think they’re being very conservative about this.”
Hamilton noted that demand for seats is high on the Northwest’s intercity rail corridor, but Amtrak’s ability to meet that demand this summer is constrained by a national shortage of passenger rail coaches. The rail operator agreed with that assessment.
“If we had more seats, we could sell them. Not only is the World Cup going on, it’s summer. Summer is very busy,” Hamilton said.
“Free fares for youth have been so successful,” he added, referencing a zero-fare program on buses and trains for kids 18 years and younger that the Washington Legislature paid for beginning in 2024.
The state-supported Amtrak Cascades line serves eighteen cities from Vancouver, Canada, to Eugene, Oregon, including Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland.
New trains are sorely needed on the Amtrak Cascades line because the route has been operating with limited passenger capacity since last spring due to the sudden withdrawal from service of dozens of 1980s-era Horizon rail cars with corrosion problems. Ridership statistics for the Cascades corridor showed a decrease last year compared to the record high of 2024 because of the reduced seat capacity.
Fewer Canadian visitors
The Seattle host committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup estimated that up to 750,000 visitors will come to the area during the four weeks of games in Cascadia. Seattle is playing host to six matches and Vancouver, B.C., will host seven. The Seattle and Vancouver matches will take place from June 13 to July 7 at Lumen Field and BC Place Stadium.
Australia, Belgium, Qatar and Egypt are scheduled to play group stage matches in both cities. Surges of superfans could follow the teams back and forth across the U.S.-Canada border, even if they don’t have tickets to every game.
That could be a recipe for traffic woes and hours-long border crossing waits, given that the World Cup coincides with peak summer travel and the cruise season will be going strong in both port cities. But there may be a mitigating effect from the chill in U.S. relations with foreign nations, particularly with Canada in this case.
The trend of Canadian travelers choosing to avoid the U.S. since President Donald Trump took office appears to be a durable phenomenon, observed Whatcom Council of Governments Executive Director Hugh Conroy. The council plays an active role in transportation planning along the northern border.
“I think there will probably be surges that will cause wait times on game days” at Whatcom County’s land border crossings, Conroy said. But his level of concern for soccer travelers being waylaid by a gummed up border has gone down alongside the number of Canadian visitors.
“A year ago, I would have thought there would be longer periods of congestion at the border,” Conroy said in an interview.
FIFA and the World Cup local organizing committees have data on the nationalities of ticket purchasers. The Seattle host organization did not respond to several requests from the Standard for info on where ticket holders are coming from.
The Washington State Department of Transportation asked Amtrak more than a year ago about adding cross-border round trips or at least putting more carriages on the Cascades line for the World Cup.
Amtrak Director of Communications Kyle Anderson said Thursday that the final response is still being worked out, but cautioned not to get one’s hopes up given the national shortage of rail cars. He said multiple World Cup host communities asked for the same thing, so that at most one or two extra coach cars could be supplied to the Northwest corridor.
Sound Transit is increasing capacity to move people in the central Puget Sound region during the World Cup period. Sound Transit’s “Summer of Soccer” service plan includes increased commuter rail service to Tacoma and Everett on game days and added light rail trains.
Amtrak’s Mason and Anderson came from headquarters to Seattle this week to show off construction progress on a new Amtrak train maintenance facility just south of King Street Station. Mason said the $300 million project is on budget and on schedule for completion in early 2027.
“What it means is we’ll be able to have more reliable service,” Mason said over the din of passing trains, beeping lifts and sheet-metal cutting. “In the future, we’ll be able to turn trains faster and maintain a better product.”
“This building is designed for the new modern fleet that we are launching later this year. But it is also of a size that we can continue to expand the service. So as the states determine if they want to increase our service, we’ll be able to support them out of this facility,” Mason elaborated.
Unlike with long-distance routes, Amtrak requires states to subsidize the regional services it operates, such as the Cascades line. Last year, the Washington Legislature directed WSDOT to try to increase daily round trips between Seattle and Portland to 14 (up from six) and Seattle-Vancouver, B.C., to five (up from two) by the year 2035.
What do the new Airo trains offer?
The incoming Airo fleet should offer an immediate boost to passenger capacity when it enters revenue service. Amtrak said the new trains have 300 seats. For comparison, the two Talgo Series 8 trainsets now operating on the Cascades line seat around 250 passengers, while the interim Amfleet trainsets seat as few as 150 passengers, depending on how many coaches are available to be hooked together.
The new trains will be more fuel efficient, but they won’t improve travel times in the Pacific Northwest. The freight-dominated corridor has an existing top speed limit of 79 mph due to track conditions.
In promotional materials, the rail operator listed numerous amenities for customers to look forward to, including comfy seats with moveable headrests, individual power outlets, free onboard Wi-Fi, enhanced lighting and digital info displays. The revamped cafe cars have self-service options and mood lighting. The six large restrooms feature touchless controls.
The new trains are manufactured by Siemens at a factory in northern California.
Hamilton said judging from pictures he has seen, the next-generation trains are “gorgeous.” He said rail advocates and enthusiasts like himself are excited for the new equipment to enter service in the Northwest.
“When the new trainsets arrive, there will be lots of us ready to get on,” Hamilton said.