A 200 mph high-speed rail line linking Vancouver, B.C. with Portland would cost roughly $63 billion in today's dollars — about $201 million per mile across 312 miles — based on WSDOT's last pre-COVID estimate of $42 billion adjusted for inflation from 2017 to 2026. No updated figure exists.

Washington State Department of Transportation and its partners have been working since January 2025 on a Service Development Plan for the Cascadia High-Speed Rail and I-5 Program, due for completion in 2028. The plan will identify potential route options, examine conceptual service levels including stops and frequency, and outline governance and finance options. It will not select a preferred route or identify station locations.

Everett City Councilman Ben Zarlingo attended a recent WSDOT briefing on the program delivered to local and regional officials, and he sees unresolved questions before any of those outputs become concrete.

What does the 2028 plan actually decide?

The program grew from Washington Legislature funding in 2016 and is administered by WSDOT with support from the Federal Transportation Administration, the British Columbia provincial government and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Its stated aim is to look holistically at highway, rail, air and other travel options across the Cascadia megaregion, addressing demand on the 285-mile I-5 corridor between the Canadian border and Portland via Seattle.

"What they're trying to do is integrate the planning that they do for I-5 with a potential Cascadia High-Speed Rail," Zarlingo said. "They are trying to solve the same problems — moving people and freight between the places."

Which routing options are on the table?

Zarlingo outlined three scenarios discussed at the briefing:

• An entirely new rail route east of the Snohomish Valley, potentially near Highway 9, that might bypass Everett.
• An alignment through Everett using the I-5 right-of-way, possibly elevated, within the freeway corridor.
• A hybrid leveraging the existing rail corridor — faster trains on upgraded track, with additional tracks or loops to add capacity alongside current freight and Amtrak services.

Geography narrows the choices unevenly along the corridor. Near Centralia or Chehalis, "you probably have a lot of options," Zarlingo said. Around Everett, the Snohomish Valley's agricultural land, I-5 and Puget Sound pinch the possible routings, making a connection northward "a much more difficult time."

How solid is the cost picture?

The 2017 estimate predates post-COVID inflation, which the source notes casts the $42 billion figure into doubt. The comparison case is California: voters approved a San Francisco–Los Angeles line in 2008 at an estimated $33 billion with a 2020 completion date. That 383-mile project now carries an expected price above $231 billion — between $200 million and more than $400 million per mile depending on segment — amid cost overruns, legal obstacles and lost federal funding.

For context, new freeway lane-mile construction runs $2.5 million to over $10 million in rural and suburban areas, and $20 million to more than $60 million in complex urban environments.

"And then you have to ask yourself, how many billions are you going to spend to save how much time?" Zarlingo said.

Is the $150 million study worth it?

Roughly $150 million is currently being spent to study HSR and the I-5 corridor, at a time when Everett, Snohomish County, Washington state and the federal government all face projected deficits. Asked whether that money could serve more immediate needs, Zarlingo called it "an absolutely legitimate perspective" — but noted the counterargument.

"Even this kind of relatively large chunk of money to do planning and analysis is probably well spent because it leverages so many other future dollars, even if the Cascadia project is delayed," he said, adding that I-5 improvements alone will cost many billions. "I'm at this stage mostly listening, trying to understand the issues and think about how they will affect the city decisions that we actually will be faced with making."

The next concrete milestone is the Service Development Plan's 2028 completion, which will narrow route and service options but leave the corridor's preferred alignment, station siting and — above all — its funding source for a later stage.