Cross-Border Amtrak Cascades Train Seattle - Vancouver - it feels like a “Prison Train”

A lot of complaints, perhaps they should just go back to the old cars. Curious, does anything besides the very best make you happy?
Next time, walk.

It definitely has some prison vibes but man I would not call it a prison rather it’s like prison on wheels lol

Amfleets > Horizons

Just a wee bit negative! Also, the new bridge across the Fraser River is for vehicle traffic only, no rail traffic.

Wow, your comments are pretty wild. Your attitude is what soured the trip, not the train in question.

1) You are not supposed to get off the train at the intermediate station. That is well known in the US.
2) Your stance of a "prison train" and comparing it to China is pretty wild. The cars were built in the 1980s and there is new equipment to be delivered in 2025/26.
3) The Talgo 6's were the only trains pulled from service, the 8's are still in active service.
4) There is a 21mph speed restriction imposed by the Township of White Rock. BNSF cannot do anything to increase the speed.
5) Of course the bathrooms are tiny, people in the 1980s were tiny.
6) At Colebrook, you are going from BNSF to CN/BCR back onto BNSF.
7) Yep, it is painfully slow from Blaine to Vancouver BC. It could be a much faster ride.
8) Dirty? Yeah? I mean they are 40 years old. Of course they are going to be a bit grimy.
9) Why do you need to know what doors open? It is limited because of security.
10) All corridor trains are paid by the states. Yes, CBSA asked to fund additional staffing as it takes away from another border control check point (Generally Sumas)
11) All Canadian trains enter "the cage". It is staggered for a reason.
12) The amount of negativity in this is really what really killed this video.

Prior to 9/11 crossing the border involved just having a driver's license. It was no big deal. Since then under Bush Jr and Trump, it was a passport and getting the third degree though worse since Trump. It was so easy before that friends in Canada ran a contracting business there but did work in Michigan. I heard stories about people doing grocery shopping in Vermont because the stores were closer than the ones on the Canadian side. It was no big deal. My Mom took us to Alberta around 1965, She didn't drive so she didn't have a driver's license. She carried a copy of our birth certificates and utility bills to take us in and take out. We had to memorize where we were born to the immigration people. Life was freer then.

As for this video, we have to deal with the realities after 911 and with conservative xenophobia from both sides of the border. This is a fine ride. It's much better than flying or driving it. Give it a break. Grow up.

You need therapy

Calls it a prison train even after explaining exactly why the conductor got mad at him for getting off the train. "pRisOn tRAiN". The amount of whining and entitlement from the poster. yikes man.

What a depressing video. Couldn't even finish due to the extreme amount of negativity and terrible spelling in the captions.

Ok now this really bring back some memories 😂😂 I was riding this train line multiple times back in 2010s until I bought my first car. I didn’t feel bad about it because back in the time, I was riding the Chengdu-Chongqing line quite at least once a year for my US visa. Before that it was the oldest rail way that goes really slow, takes more than 24 hrs; then new line is built, the travel time was reduced to almost 5 hrs, that was when I took this Seattle-Vancouver train, so I wasn’t feeling so bad about it. Now with the new high speed train built between chengdu and chongqing, it takes less than 80 minutes, even the old line (the 5 hr one I mentioned before) was upgraded to 2 hrs. If you ask me to ride a slow train like this, I’d probably be really pissed lol. Btw the price went up so much during this decade, I remember it was 65-ish for businesses class.

This is a lovely view of Washington, something I've never experienced, impressive how nice the seating seems compared to crowded aircraft presently...

I love the last scene watching downtown vancouver from the sky train.!! It looks like a huge city!!

I don't know how I could live if I had to be this negative all the time.

Moan, moan, moan. Do you ever have anything positive to say about anything? Quit whingeing.

Train slows through White Rock City because its the law, due to high volume of ppl that cross tracks at the beach area.
Well...USBP allowed to do security checks at Vancouver, Toronto airports, and Vancouver cruise port....aw, come on! Lol

I love your comment about the high rises in Vancouver that looks like China because most of the buyers are from..... heh... I took the train in 2015 but I might take it again on Christmas this year.. I usually just drive my car from Seattle to Vancouver 2 or 3 times a year, you can get the fast pass driver license so you just scan your driver licenses at the border which makes it a very fast process. The drive time is around 2.5 hours but the very very very (did I say very?) bad Richmond tunnel in Canada under the river can be 30+ minutes traffic delay and a total nightmare during the holidays so I might try the train again

Yet another train video that the person does not know how to narrate. WTF

Loved this video. Thank you so much. I didn’t mind your complaining too much.

Please tell us how you are so familiar with prison trains. And why you disobeyed the Conductor.

I took this train southbound several times between 1995 and 2010, and the train used to come to a full stop just after crossing from Canada into the USA for border inspection. It's only about a 50 m walk from the highway border crossing to the track, so the US Customs officers just walked over and boarded the train. But the stop added 10 or 15 minutes to the trip time.

Apparently the preclearance of US-bound passengers at the Pacific Central station in Vancouver is something that began sometime after 2019; I found a November 2019 article about this having recently been suggested.

That fenced off immigration zone really adds to the prison train feel there haha.

The camera work is quite good. Your narration not so much...a bit entitled sounding. It's a ride that costs as little as $38?!

We did this train ride from Seattle to Vancouver and it was AMAZING!!! We had a double decker car with great seats! Plus, the observation car was all glass, ceiling included with swivel chairs on each side! It was a great trip! I do not understand why you would call the cars "prison cars"!!! Even with us experiencing a landslide on track still 2+ hours from Seattle didnt make us feel it was a bad trip! We had to get off at a station and wait for buses to come get us to finish the trip back to Seattle. We are from Arkansas and I have traveled to 26 different states. This was a wonderful and very scenic ride!!! I would highly recommend it!!! You seem to be a very negative person! Side note: we were not stopped by Border Patrol going into Canada but we were on the way back to the US. The conductor had us scared to death about how to deal with the Agents. The guy came into a car and was this amazing 6'2" muscled up gorgeous guy in a uniform!!! At that point me and my two daughters didn't care if we were arrested!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Dude, the US "subsidizes" CBSA because they want to put border agents in Canada to filter people before they get to the US. So we have to build special facilities in our airports and train terminals. It causes all sorts of problems like, US border agents want to carry guns which we don't do up here.

Buses stop at the actual border and get checked by US and Canada customs in the same facilities everyone else does.

And there are very few passengers on that train daily compared to say, the actual crossing at Blaine or Pacific Highway, so it's hard to justify the cost of a border security area just for one train.

I get you like trains, but unlike Europe, they just aren't a big thing in North America. Also, this IS a different country after all and North America isn't the EU - we don't have freedom of movement here, mainly because the US doesn't want it.

China? Really? Because Seattle has no high rises?

I believe train speed drops along White Rock Beach because you’re going thru a residential area, and a beach which has many foot crossings to get to the beach and pier. The track runs right alongside pedestrian sidewalk.

Yes, Amtrak trains are sloooowwwwwww, and usually late. That is not Amtrak's fault; the fault is the fact that Amtrak must use freight rail tracks not owned by Amtrak, those freight tracks are often not of the best quality, and that passenger rail gets second priority after the freight trains. On a side note, it does not, in fact, rain all year long in Seattle. The rainy season runs typically from October through April. Even at its wettest periods, the rain fronts come and go with periods of drying in between. From June until September, it is pretty dry and sunny.

From a Amtrak report submitted to US congress in fall of 2022:
"A challenge of train travel is that unlike a point‐to‐point commercial airliner, passenger trains serve multiple stations, and our manifests are updated right up until the point where a train serves its last station prior to reaching the border."

So I can understand why train crew would be affraid of someone reserved to get to Canada would get off the train before since the passenger manifest that is sent to the border agency at last minute would not reflect your leaving the train and the passenger count on board would not match the count in the reservation system, and they would have hard time figuring out which passenger left.
Wonder if explaining to conductor that you have no desire to get off train and onlt wish to take pictures at stops would alleviate fears.

It is so out of date. It's not much better than one century ago. At least the views are great for a while. Otherwise the whole passengers railways system in North America is a joke.

I could not watch the whole video due to the extremely negative and inaccurate commentary.

They have never equalled the original Great Northern internationals. Two identical train sets each making 1cand 1/2 round trips each day giving three daily departures from both ends Two 60 seat coaches one dinette coach , one parlor lounge and a baggage. Each daily train connected to Portland and at Portland connected to California. Connections were 15 to 20 minutes trains were reliable enough to allow such quick connections.

When BN/GN/now BNSF ran the trains there were station stops in New Westminster, Crescent Beach, White Rock and then the border. NOW there are nonstops between Vancouver and the border. At one time inspection was done on board and underway.

One correction. As you were passing over the Fraser on the Skytrain filming the Patullo Bridge you were actually on the Canada Line, not the Expo Line.

Crossing the border in Niagara Falls into Canada and return is painful. First you have to exit the train (weather be dammed) line up at customs for what seems like hours. Eventually re board the train after dogs have cleared the train which takes forever. And the inspectors look at you like your up to evil things, or a middle east terrorist. Might be easier just to got to Mexico and just walk across the southern border! So all this adds a long time to what should be a simple passport check. (as you are cleared when you first start your trip) Not a friendly way to cross the border. The trip takes much, much, much longer than it should.

Talgo cars for the Cascade line were really nice but were scrapped for safety. Current cars are place holders until the new ones arrive next year.

Horizon cars were NOT designed for Chicago commuters.
They were another coach car in the evolution of AMTRAK.

There is no Second Class on US trains - just “coach”.
Business class is not First Class. Better seating and generally free drinks. Some routes have an exclusive car attendant for the car.

If you are on a long-haul train and in a compartment - that is kind of a First class.
On the Acela trains on the East Coast - there ARE 2 classes - kind of..

A “smoke stop” means passengers can get off the train on Amtrak, usually 5-10 minutes. Unlike Europe - you can’t get off at every stop.

Only 1 door being open - suggests your train was short-staffed. Did you see any other trainman besides the conductor.
After the 2017 eclipse - I was returning from Southern Illinois to Chicago. One of the trainmen “timed out” a few stops before where I got on. The other conductor had been driven downstate to work this crowded train. One conductor for almost 400 riders!
He did a great job!

Great report!! Those Horizon cars look totally soul-sucking and the bistro car looks equally grim and sad. VIA does a far better job especially the new stock and ...oh the statement about 'it rains all the time in Seattle'.. ( or Vancouver for that matter ) couldn't not be further from the truth in fact, the hazy skies in your video are the result of endless months with little to no rain in 2023. In Vancouver we were basically dry from later April to early October. This has been happening most springs and summers for years.

Totally missing a trick that view😊

Looks like.s.third world country

If the same route nwas in Europe be so much better 😊

Amtrak missing an opertunity sutch a lovely route should be selling it with good trains would make so much money

I've used the train to get from Vancouver to Seattle for work a few times. I'll take that over driving (but riding my motorcycle still wins), but the best option that I've found is taking a sea plane. Harbour to Harbor in a flash, and priced fairly. My main issue with the train route was the times that it runs just made it a pain for trips where the time matters.

You are right, the train platforms do look similar to the Ukraine / Polish border, but the transition is faster due to much of the administrative work done right on board the train, less all around BS and more available trains once inside Poland.

to be fair, trains and hotels and motels in USA are HORRIBLE

can't really be compared to ones in Europe or Asia. think 1970-1980's tech and interior design and furniture..... because that is what it is. USA tech is far behind in non-military tech.
price of being an empire I guess.

Embrasse an American calling international an unknown train line conecting two cities and booom, they are ready to report the video like someone has declared the war on USA. If their feelings are so high, then let them clean the windows, accelerate their trains, treat the customers they are living on with respect, and make them feel they travel in the richest country of the world, and not in rural Cambodgia. They don't have a clue about the respect a passenger gets in Europe, or the luxury and quality of trains in China. Especially they treat non citizens, criticizing their infrastructure, as potential terrorists. Enough said.

I believe English is not your first language because of spelling and grammer mistakes. I agree with other people's comments that everything is so negative. I hope this was not supposed to be a travel log because of the inaccurate information and some information that was boring. The filming was also all over the place. You complained so much about the washrooms being like a prison , stainless steel is easier to clean . You mentioned that the conductor was like a jailer, maybe he was stressed by people with a bad attitude. I'm sorry but we really didn't enjoy your video.