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Amtrak unveils new Cascades route train
Another way to beat traffic was unveiled on Saturday, with Amtrak revealing a new train route for the Cascades. Senior Director for Amtrak Derek Maier gives FOX 13 Seattle of the new train car.
SEATTLE - Amtrak Cascades passengers traveling between the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia will face an unusual scheduling quirk starting this weekend as an international daylight saving discrepancy takes effect.
While residents across Washington and Oregon prepare to set their clocks back one hour on Sunday, Nov. 1, travelers crossing into Canada will find that British Columbia is no longer participating in the biannual ritual. The province decided last year to adopt permanent daylight saving time, remaining on what it designates as Pacific Time year-round.
The split creates a temporary one-hour time difference between neighboring jurisdictions that previously shared identical clock settings.
What we know:
Passengers booking travel between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, will notice ticketing adjustments that reflect local departure and arrival times.
- Southbound trips leaving Vancouver for Seattle will appear on tickets as three-hour journeys.
- Northbound trips departing Seattle for Vancouver will show as five-hour journeys.
- The actual duration of both trips remains unchanged at roughly four hours.
Amtrak Cascades operates two daily roundtrips serving Vancouver's Pacific Central Station: one originating in Seattle and another in Portland, Oregon. Onboard crews will make border-crossing announcements to remind riders to adjust their watches and personal devices.
The time difference will persist through the winter until the U.S. resumes daylight saving time on the second Sunday of March, at which point Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia will sync back up.
What we don't know:
Transit officials have not indicated whether connecting bus services, regional airlines, or other cross-border ground transport operators plan to adjust published timetables or simply rely on local departure/arrival conventions. Long-term impacts on cross-border commuter freight and trade corridors also remain to be evaluated through this inaugural winter transition.
What they're saying:
Transportation and provincial officials noted that adjusting tickets to match local station time is standard industry procedure across time zones.
"Similar to what travelers experience when crossing time zones in the United States, tickets will reflect departure time at the city that passengers are leaving and arrival times for their destination city," Amtrak Cascades noted in an advisory.
Provincial leaders in British Columbia framed the shift as a measure to "improve people’s overall health, reduce disruptions for families, simplify scheduling and provide an extra hour of evening light during the winter months."
New Amtrak Airo trains to debut Sept. 30 in the Pacific Northwest
Amtrak passenger service in the Pacific Northwest is entering a new era on Sept. 30 with the national debut of its next-generation Airo trainsets on the Amtrak Cascades line.
Dig deeper:
British Columbia's legislature paved the way for the policy change by passing the Interpretation Amendment Act in 2019. While provincial leaders initially opted to pause implementation in hopes of coordinating simultaneously with Washington, Oregon, and California, the province ultimately moved forward unilaterally with regulations taking effect in March 2026.
Under the new system:
- B.C. operates permanently at UTC-7, eliminating the seasonal switch between PST and PDT in favor of a single year-round label: Pacific Time (PCT).
- Most regional clocks moved ahead in March 2026 and will simply remain in place this November.
- Exceptions exist within B.C. borders: communities in northeastern B.C. like Dawson Creek and Fort St. John will stay on year-round Mountain Standard Time (UTC-7), naturally matching PCT, while several southeastern municipalities near the Alberta border, such as Cranbrook and Fernie, will observe Mountain Daylight Time (UTC-6) year-round.
The Source: Information in this story came from an Amtrak Cascades travel advisory issued by communications official Janet Matkin and official policy documentation published by the Province of British Columbia regarding the Interpretation Amendment Act and Pacific Time implementation.
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