Will Canadian bureaucrats derail Seattle-B.C. train service?
(The the following column by Joel Connelly appeared on the Seattle Post Intelligencer website on September 28, 2010.) SEATTLE Amidst copious politician self-congratulation, Gov. Gregoire and British Columbia Premier Campbell came together in Seattle last year to launch a second daily Amtrak train to Vancouver. The second train was supposed to run through the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, but proved such a hit that it was extended through Oct 31. It drew nearly 25,000 passengers in July. But a bureaucratic saboteur threatens to derail the expanded train service at the 49th Parallel. Canada’s Ministry of Transportation has informed the Washington DOT it must pay nearly $550,000 a year to cover staffing needed for the train’s nightime arrival in Vancouver. The state has no money to cover the added cost, so the second train could end just as it picks up steam. As recently as August, the (Vancouver) Province was talking ecstatically of someday expanding to four trains a day. The Canadians’ fee i
