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Amtrak Cascades <br />Amtrak Cascades trains have been impacted by landslides since daily intercity passenger rail <br />service was re-established between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. in May 1995. Since 2009, <br />WSDOT maintained detailed data on service impacts resulting from landslides. These service <br />impacts occur in two ways: <br />1. Trains are canceled and do not operate over any portion of their scheduled route. These <br />service impacts are called annulments. <br />2. Trains operate over a portion of their route, with buses deployed to cover one or more <br />segments of impacted areas between cities. These service impacts are called disruptions. <br />Seasonal service impacts from 2009 to 2013 ranged from 20 to 71 annulments, and 27 to <br />104 seasonal disruptions during the season (October -June) from 2009-2013 (Table 2). <br />Table 2. Amtrak Cascades Seasonal Annulments and Disruptions from 2009-2013 <br />October — June <br />Annulments <br />Disruptions <br />2012 - 2013 <br />50 <br />81 <br />2011 - 2012 <br />23 <br />31 <br />2010 - 2011 <br />71 <br />104 <br />2009 - 2010 <br />20 <br />27 <br />Calculating the financial impacts during service annulments and disruptions is challenging <br />because many factors influence a person's decision to ride Amtrak Cascades (ticket prices, <br />automobile fuel prices and on -time performance of train service). The calculation of financial <br />impacts is further complicated by the fact that travelers holding tickets when a landslide occurs <br />will still be transported to their destination by either a bus or a combination of a bus and a train. <br />A comparison between ridership and revenue data for Amtrak Cascades trains between Seattle <br />and Everett for the past four seasons showed a precipitous drop (20 to 35 percent for major city <br />pairs) in ridership and revenue from 2012-2013 (Table 3). While this decline in ridership and <br />revenues was observed in most of Amtrak's national network during April 2013, customers may <br />have chosen not to ride the trains due to concerns for their safety after Amtrak's long-distance <br />Empire Builder train was partially derailed by a landslide near Everett, specifically on April 7, <br />2013. <br />7 <br />