A lot has changed since the 1950s. After a series of mergers, there are now only two "Class One" rail systems serving Tacoma: BNSF and Union Pacific. Passenger service is now provided by Amtrak and Sound Transit, with long-distance, regional, and commuter trains. Tacoma Rail handles much of the local rail traffic, as well as switching intermodal and vehicle traffic. Both BNSF and UP originate local trains from their respective yards.
BNSF operates one of the largest rail networks in the United States, with 35,000 route miles covering 28 states and 2 Canadian provinces.
BNSF was created on September 22, 1995, from the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. (parent company of Burlington Northern Railroad) and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation (parent company of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway). Burlington Northern had been created in 1970 from the merger of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Spokane, Portland & Seattle, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy.
In 1996 BNSF re-opened Stampede Pass to ease congestion caused by the growing intermodal traffic from Puget Sound ports.
Union Pacific Railroad is the largest railroad in North America. The system serves 23 states, and interchanges traffic with the Canadian rail system.
Over the past century and a quarter, various mergers have taken place, and the current UP is composed of many railroads which were once famous in themselves: Denver & Rio Grande Western, Missouri Pacific, Western Pacific, MKT, Chicago & North Western, and most recently Southern Pacific. Today the Union Pacific Railroad, always a giant, is one of the few remaining large U.S. railroads.
Union Pacific's largest single customer is APL Land Transport Services, a steamship company that operates in the Pacific. Second is General Motors, followed by an assortment of chemical companies and utilities. UP is the nation's largest hauler of chemicals, much of which originates along the Gulf Coast near Houston, Texas. Union Pacific is also one of the largest intermodal carriers—that is the transport of truck trailers and marine containers.
Amtrak was created in 1971 to take over passenger service from most of the railroads in the United States.
By the 1960's many railroads' passenger service departments had become unprofitable. While railroads continued to invest in equipment and marketing of passenger travel through the 1950s, and some even beyond, in reality ridership suffered a long decline beginning in the early part of this century. Improved highways and automobiles, and then cheaper air travel drew customers away. As railroads reduced schedules, rail passenger service entered a spiral of decline. Railroads were obligated to continue some degree of service, but petitioned the government for relief from a task they now considered to be a distraction from their core business of hauling freight.
When Amtrak was created in 1971, a few holdouts continued to run their own operations. In those early days, Amtrak used equipment inherited from various railroads, in widely varying stages of repair. Those early trains were quite colorful with a mix'n'match paint scheme, until each car could be repainted in the new Amtrak livery. Today Amtrak has a growing fleet of hi-tech Genesis locomotives, continues to add new equipment, and continues to fight for its financial life with every budget cycle. In some areas Amtrak is trying to add revenue by increasing its express-freight business. For example in the Northeast Corridor it runs trains carrying parcels and mail daily or more, and it wants to do similar business out west.
Amtrak has ongoing partnerships with several states to co-fund transportation projects. Both Washington and Oregon Departments of Transportation provide funding for the Amtrak Cascades regional trains in their states. Currently the Cascades trains consist of Talgo Series 8 passenger cars and older Horizon cars (replacing the Series 6 Talgo trainsets) with Siemens SC-44 Charger locomotives and Cab cars, converted F40 locomotives and purpose built Talgo Series 8 Cab cars, aka Mater. These trains operate in a push pull mode. During the holidays additional trains using heritage passenger cars can be seen along the line.
Tacoma's new Amtrak station is a located at 422 E 25th St, on Sound Transits new Lakewood Subdivsion, less than a mile from the old Union Station (which is next to the Washington State History Museum, where PSMRE's layout is located). Amtrak (Cascades and Starlights) share the staion with the Sounder Commute train. The station is also known as the Tacoma Dome Station. Amtrak's national number is 1-800-USA-RAIL. The daily schedule for Tacoma currently includes three Cascades round trips and 1 Coast Starlight round trip, for a total of 8 trains. See Amtrak's schedules for arrival and departure times.
Sound Transit operates Sounder commuter trains that currently run between Lakewood and Seattle as well as Seattle and Everett. An extension to Lakewood over, in part, the former NP Prairie line and the former NP American Lake line, was completed in 2012. The Tacoma Sounder Station (Tacoma Dome Station) is located at Freighthouse Square (former Milwaukee Road freighthouse – 424 E 25th St, adjacent the new Amtrak Station).
Ten Sounder trains (including two reverse commute trains) operate in the mornings and evenings, weekdays only. Trains have also operated on the weekends for Mariners, Sounders FC and Seahawks games. Sounder’s use EMD F59PH1 locomotives and Motive Power MP40PH-3C locomotives, with Bombardier bi-level passenger cars and cab cars painted in an eye catching paint scheme. These trains operate in push-pull mode over BNSF tracks. In Tacoma, Sounder’s divert from the BNSF Seattle sub, using a short connector track to the former Milwaukee Road line, now apart of the Lakewood Subdivison, dispatched by BNSF. The line used an historical, long wooden trestle built by the Milwaukee Road and known as the S-Curve trestle. In late 2017 a project to replace the S-Curve trestle with a double track concrete viaduct (bridge or trestle) was completed. The extension to Lakewood also required the construction of a half mile long connection between the Milwaukee Road main line and the NP's former Prairie line, featuring a bridge across Pacific Ave in downtown Tacoma.
In Tacoma, Sound Transit operates the Tacoma Link street cars (light rail). These run between the Tacoma Dome Station and the Theater District at the north end of downtown Tacoma, with convenient stops in front of the Washington State History Museum. The cars operate weekdays from 5:30 am to 10pm on 20 and 10 minute headways. Saturdays and Sundays have more restricted operating hours. An extension of Tacoma Link is nearing completion, nearly doubling the length of the line and ending at St Joseph's hospital. Known as the Hilltop Extension, it is expected to be in service by late 2022.
Tacoma Rail is one of three operating divisions of Tacoma Public Utilities and evolved from the Tacoma Belt Line and Tacoma Eastern. Often referred to as the Muni or the Belt Line, it switches freight between Tacoma industries and the transcontinental railroads. Its customers include the Port of Tacoma, now part of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, along with the Port of Seattle, the 4th largest port in the United States. In addition to containerized cargo, the Belt Line's freight includes Oil, chemicals, automobiles, aircraft material, scrap metal, lumber and building products. The railway operates over two divisions and 43 miles of tracks, using 16 locomotives and serving numerous customers. The short line operates PTC (Positive Train Control) equipped locomotives on 3 different railroads (BNSF, UP and Sound Transit). Tacoma Rail builds intermodal and vehicle trains for both UP and BNSF and services both railroad's locomotives.
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Modernized and complete May 2026