Орегон штатындағы қалааралық теміржол желісі

Commuter rail line in Oregon, United States

Local officials in Washington County began studying the feasibility of an intercity commuter rail line in 1996, and the Washington County (Wilsonville to Beaverton) Commuter Rail Project acquired approval from affected jurisdictions in 2002. Construction commenced in 2006 and it opened on February 2, 2009. From the start of the first serious discussions of the idea, it took thirteen years and $166 million to get WES operational.

The route presently used by WES consists of two historically separate railroads. The segment between Greton (near Tigard) and Wilsonville was originally built by the Oregon Electric Railway in 1908; at Greton the line continued northeasterly to Portland, a route that was abandoned in the mid 1930s. The Oregon Electric stopped running passenger trains in the late 1930s and soon after switched to diesel locomotives, continuing to run freight trains to Beaverton and Portland to the north, and to Salem, Albany and Eugene to the south. The Tigard branch from Greton to Beaverton was built by the Beaverton and Willsburg Railroad, an affiliate of Southern Pacific, beginning in 1906, and opened to traffic in 1910. This route connected with Southern Pacific's existing west east West Side branch in Beaverton that provided service to Portland and Hillsboro, and a second route south of Tigard to Cook, which was a junction with the Newberg branch between Lake Oswego and McMinnville. In 1914, the Southern Pacific electrified these lines as part of its Red Electric service in competition with the Oregon Electric Railway; by 1929 the Southern Pacific ended electric service, and passenger service was switched first to steam trains and doodlebugs, and later buses. Both the Southern Pacific and the Oregon Electric (and its successor Burlington Northern) continued to provide freight service on the line until the 1990s when both railroads leased its low density branches to shortline operators. In this case, the Southern Pacific leased its lines to newly formed Portland & Western Railroad in August 1995; followed by the Burlington Northern leasing its lines to the Portland & Western in October 1995. This put the operations of two competing railroads in the same hands for the first time in history.

Led by Washington County, planning for WES began in 1996, when county officials started working with the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Wilsonville and Sherwood, as well as government transportation agencies to study the idea of establishing passenger rail service between Beaverton and Wilsonville on the existing Portland & Western line. After years of delays due to lack of funding, the project received approval from the Federal Transit Administration in May 2004, resulting in the funding of approximately 50 percent of the line's capital costs.

Construction began October 23, 2006, in Wilsonville, and a ceremonial "ground breaking" was held two days later in Tigard, although the project had already started and no dirt was moved. During planning and construction, the project was called the Washington County Commuter Rail, or alternately the Wilsonville to Beaverton Commuter Rail since much of Wilsonville is in Clackamas County. TriMet held a naming contest to choose a name for the new line, and in November 2007 it announced WES (Westside Express Service) as the winner. By December of that year, construction on the rail line was 75 percent complete and included five new bridges and two rehabilitated bridges, and improvements to 14 mile (23 km) of track and 14 road crossings. A distinctive feature of the line is the gauntlet track sections installed at the three intermediate stations (Hall Nimbus, Tigard and Tualatin). The feature allows freight trains to swing clear of the high level platforms at the stops, so that wider cars do not strike them. In June 2008, the line was more than 90 percent complete, with all the track in place. Originally scheduled to open in September 2008, opening was delayed several times and eventually to February 2009 due to technical and other difficulties, most notably the failure of Colorado Railcar (CR). TriMet lost $3 million from the delays and from its financial support of CR, which included paying CR's suppliers and providing "rail engineering expertise and on site technical assistance."

In April 2010, the Rail Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) published a study for a potential southern extension of WES from Wilsonville to Salem. The study extended 29 mile (47 km) and proposed stations in Woodburn, Keizer, and either North Salem or Central Salem. as of 2017, there have been no plans to expand WES service, owing to low ridership, but lawmakers have attempted to revisit the plan. In 2022, the city of Wilsonville revealed legislative concepts that included several service improvements to the WES commuter rail line including the Salem extension. In February 2024, SB 1572 was released, which if passed would require ODOT and other Oregon rail transit agencies to study the possibility of a Salem extension.

WES trains run every 30 minutes between Wilsonville and Beaverton during morning and afternoon rush hours. The scheduled one way travel time is 27 minutes. For its first 3 years of service, the WES line was located entirely within TriMet fare zone 3, but travel on WES required a TriMet "All Zone" (three zone) fare, rather than a one zone or two zone fare. However, effective September 2012, TriMet discontinued all use of fare zones, and WES fares consequently became identical to the fares on any other TriMet rail or bus line. C Tran all zone day and monthly passes are also accepted as valid fare on WES. P&W, which continues to run freight trains on the line, operates the commuter trains, and TriMet maintains them.

TriMet and P&W operate WES under a 50 year shared use agreement. They entered into a 10 year operations and maintenance contract, which includes a trackage rights agreement, in 2007, with a renewal option every five years. TriMet owns the rail equipment, which it maintains with its employees, and contracts with P&W to operate the WES trains and maintain the tracks. P&W dispatches WES trains with priority over freight trains. TriMet also leases property near the Wilsonville terminus from P&W, where it built a dedicated maintenance facility for WES. The facility is staffed with TriMet mechanics who were trained to meet the Federal Railroad Administration mandated qualified mechanical person certification.