We need your help turning Washington State's 2025 State Rail Plan into the ambitious, long-term vision that is needed to confront some of the most urgent social, economic, and environmental issues of our time.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) updates its State Rail Plan every four to five years in accordance with federal guidelines. Each iteration of the plan guides policy and investment decisions by articulating a 20-year blueprint for freight and passenger rail in the state.

WSDOT is currently determining its priorities for the upcoming rail plan and is accepting public input until June 24, 2025. It is essential that we make our voices heard.

How to Find the Survey

To access the survey, click HERE, then scroll toward the bottom of the page and click the tab labeled "Your turn: give your feedback". The survey should take about 10 minutes. 

Why This Survey Matters

If our legislative advocacy in Washington over the past several years has taught us one thing, it is that when it comes to rail, WSDOT must be pressured into doing its job.

Solutionary Rail and our allies in the Rail Can't Wait campaign have been hard at work honing our vision for rail in Washington State.

Our recent victory on ESHB 1837—our bill establishing improvement priorities for the Amtrak Cascades service—was an important step in the right direction. But it was only a glimpse of what is possible.

Without continued advocacy, this bill will not bring about the Amtrak Cascades service we need. And this is to say nothing of the many other improvements that Washington's freight and passenger rail system need.

Unsure What to Say?

Here are some of the key items we would like to see included in WSDOT's State Rail Plan:

• Recognize the many advantages of rail over highway transport and prioritize the shift of freight and passengers from highway to rail.
• Restore east-west passenger service through Central Washington
• Implement fast, frequent, and reliable Amtrak Cascades service.
• Break up the Class I railroad monopoly in Southeast WA by implementing SR's Rosalia to Pasco Shortline Access Corridor plan.

And HERE is a compilation of talking points to help inform your comments to WSDOT. Many thanks to our Rail Can't Wait allies for putting this together! 

Boring but Important

Finally, a pair of logistical notes for filling out WSDOT's survey:

1. Only one question in the survey—Question 12—allows for an open-ended (i.e., written) response. To access Question 12, you must first answer Question 11, which asks what category your written feedback will fall under (e.g., "climate change/environment", "number of trains", etc.). Questions 2-10 may be skipped if needed or desired.
2. Question 2 uses the following vaguely-worded phrase to designate one possible goal of the State Rail Plan: Mobility: Streamline the rail network as part of the statewide multimodal transportation system. In response to an inquiry by a Rail Can't Wait campaign member about the intended meaning of the word "streamline", a WSDOT representative provided the following clarification: "We need to change that language to make it clearer in our report. The intent is not to decrease rail service in Washington. Instead, the question is related to better connecting train schedules with the schedules for other types of public transportation, such as buses, light rail, and ferries, so that people using multiple travel modes have a streamlined trip."

With our recent legislative victory, WSDOT is finally beginning to face long-overdue scrutiny for its lack of vision and initiative on rail transport in WA. This is our moment to show WSDOT how to how to live up to its mandate. We need your help to make the most of it!