Just 187 miles into its 1377-mile journey from Seattle WA to Los Angeles CA, Amtrak train 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, departs Portland, Oregon’s Union Station after a crew change. P42DCs 164 and 134 will shortly bring their 10-car train across the Willamette River on Portland’s double-deck steel drawbridge. Portland’s Union Station opened in 1896 (and was rebuilt in 1996). In pre-Amtrak days, this station served passenger trains from the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern (and predecessors Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Spokane Portland & Seattle before that). Today, besides Amtrak, the station serves the city’s MAX light rail line and Greyhound buses.
Running daily between Seattle and Los Angeles, this train offers running alongside the Pacific Ocean and through the Cascade Mountains. It has been one of Amtrak's long-distance success stories.
