For the first time since a fatal derailment in December 2017, Amtrak trains ran on Washington’s Point Defiance Bypass, the intended passenger-only route to shift trains off the coastal line shared with BNSF Railway freight traffic. Test trains on Saturday and Sunday on the 14-mile line between Tacoma and Nisqually Junction are for familiarization and certification of train crews [see “Digest: Amtrak to run test trains …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 8, 2021]. No date has been announced for resumption of service via the bypass.
