New Bullet Train Could Transport Passengers from Oregon to Canada in Under Two Hours

A new ultra-high-speed train could soon be whisking passengers from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia in just under two hours.

Officials in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia are currently in the stages of looking into the planning for a proposed ultra-high-speed train that would travel at speeds 250 miles per hour or greater, transporting passengers from Portland to Seattle in under one hour and from Seattle to Vancouver in just under another hour.

The concept of the new train is one of three high-speed transportation options officials are looking into, with additional options include magnetic levitation (maglev) trains and a hyperloop system.

The goal is to create transportation options that would alleviate traffic and transit congestion and help to boost business innovation across the Cascadia megaregion (a network of metropolitan regions that have shared economies, infrastructures, and ecosystems). While the concept for the ultra-high-speed train is still in its early stages, officials hope to launch it by 2035.

The concepts are under evaluation and will be discussed at October's Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference before a more in-depth study on how each transportation system would work is set to be released in July of 2019.

The train would serve as an additional travel option to the already available Amtrak Cascades trains, which serve 18 cities across Canada, Washington, and Oregon. In contrast to the newly proposed trains, the Cascades train travels at a mere 79 miles per hour.

Related: How to Master the Art of Amtrak Travel

So far, the project has received 1.5 million in funding from officials from Washington state, British Columbia, Oregon, and Microsoft. Should the new train be built, it will stand as one of the world’s fastest.