Tacoma’s Rail Future Hinges on a Tunnel
A Harriman manager promises through Portland–Tacoma trains within 18 months—if the Tacoma tunnel can be finished.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
PORTLAND, Feb. 4.—J. D. Farrell, general manager of the Oregon Washington railroad, the Harriman extension to Puget Sound, announced this afternoon that through trains would be in operation between Portland and Tacoma over the new line in from 16 to 18 months.
“We are hard at work on both the Sound extension and the Grays Harbor extension and will push one as fast as the other,” said Mr. Farrell. “The Tacoma tunnel is the only thing that delays us, but we are laying track out of Tacoma now toward Portland, and as we have our right-of-way completely secured the construction work of the line can be completed in short order.”
“The Tacoma tunnel is the only thing that delays us, but we are laying track out of Tacoma now toward Portland, and as we have our right-of-way completely secured the construction work of the line can be completed in short order.”
The promise of faster rail between Portland and Tacoma was a booster’s dream—and a reminder that big infrastructure timelines are always hostage to a single bottleneck. Today’s debates over light rail, bridge replacements and the Puget Sound gateway echo the same mix of ambition and delay.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.