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Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and BNSF Railway Co. signed an agreement that clears the way for work to begin this fall on Amtrak Cascades corridor improvements.

BNSF now can begin work on nearly $400 million worth of projects, the first being in Everett, where the Class I will build two new tracks for freight trains entering a rail terminal. The new tracks will clear the way for oncoming passenger trains and eliminate a “substantial” rail yard bottleneck, according to WSDOT. The work will be funded with federal High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program funds.

The agreement outlines requirements and performance measures, including project schedules and budgets, contracting methods, procurement and purchasing processes, and budget and billing procedures.

To date, WSDOT has received $781 million in HSIPR funds, which will be used to make corridor upgrades that reduce travel times and improve on-time performance, as well as purchase new locomotives and passenger cars. The upgrades and improvements will enable WSDOT eventually to add two daily round trips between Seattle and Portland, for a total of six.