TriMet's Westside Express Service (WES)

On February 2, 2009, the transit system in Portland, Oregon called TriMet, or the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, began operation of a new commuter rail service called WES, or Westside Express Service, between the suburbs of Wilsonville and Beaverton on the Portland & Western Railroad. WES operates only on weekdays from 5:20 to 10:00 AM and from 3:30 to 8:00 PM, with a train departing in each direction approximately every 30 minutes. A trip between Wilsonville and Beaverton takes 27 minutes. The train crew consists of an engineer and a conductor, both of whom are Portland & Western employees.

The railroad line that WES runs on consists of portions of two lines that were once competitors. The portion from Wilsonville to Tigard was originally built in 1906 as the Oregon Electric Railway, an electric interurban railroad that began operation between Portland and Salem on New Year's Day in 1908. The Oregon Electric eventually reached Eugene, with branches to Banks, Forest Grove, Woodburn and Corvallis. The Oregon Electric's passenger service lasted until 1933. Electric freight service continued until 1945 when diesel locomotives took over. The portion of the line from Tigard to Beaverton was part of Southern Pacific's system and was used by their "Red Electric" interurbans, which carried passengers between Portland and Corvallis from 1914 to 1929 as competition to the Oregon Electric Railway. These lines remained competitors into the 1990s, with the Oregon Electric having become part of Burlington Northern Santa Fe while the Southern Pacific became part of Union Pacific. Today, both are operated by the Portland & Western Railroad.

WES operates with Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) built by Colorado Railcar Manufacturing of Fort Lupton, Colorado. There are three powered units and one unpowered trailer. The powered units seat 74 people each and have a top speed of 60 miles per hour. The unpowered trailer seats 80. Each WES car features two bicycle hooks and free wireless internet access. The first of them arrived in June, 2008. WES was originally scheduled to begin operation in the fall of 2008, but delays in delivery of the cars caused the opening to be pushed back to February 2, 2009, with the trains being tested throughout the fall and winter of 2008. Colorado Railcar's financial difficulties caused the company to shut down in December of 2008. TriMet's WES is one of only two commuter systems to use Colorado Railcar DMUs, and the other, Florida's Tri-Rail, uses Bi-level versions, making TriMet's four single-level cars the only ones of their kind.

WES typically operates with two of the powered units operating separately, with the third powered unit operating with the unpowered trailer, as shown here.

Below are pictures of each of the WES cars.

These two views show the interior of a WES train.

Here is a look at the five stations on the WES line.

Wilsonville Station

9699 SW Barber Street

The Wilsonville station is the southern end of the line and features a 400-space Park & Ride lot, by far the largest of all the WES stations, 48 bike lockers, and connections to Wilsonville's SMART Transit, Canby's CAT and Salem's Cherriots.

WES has its own track to the platform here, which ends at the end of the platform. Freight trains use the adjacent through track.

Wilsonville is also the site of the WES maintenance facility, which can be easily viewed from the Wilsonville platform.

There is one of these sculptures of bronze and stainless steel at each of the WES stations. They are called "Interactivators" and this one is the "Wilsonville Interactivator." They were created by Frank Boyden and Brad Rule. The vehicle and the 16 heads can be moved around in the tracks in the tabletop. The five "interactivators" are all similar but are slightly different. Each has a different color scheme and depicts a different animal on the top of the vehicle, and the heads, while representing the same "cast of characters," are slightly different at each station. These photos of the "Wilsonville Interactivator" were taken on January 15, 2009, the first day it was uncovered at the Wilsonville platform.

The following table lists the colors and animals at each of the five "Interactivators."

The following is engraved on each interactivator:

THIS SCULPTURE, A THEATER OF SORTS, EXPLORES HUMAN INTERACTIONS FOUND IN PLACES WHERE PEOPLE COME TOGETHER, SUCH AS THIS TRAIN LINE. THE CAST OF CHARACTERS EXPRESSES VARIOUS TRAITS, GESTURES, STATES OF MIND, EMOTIONS, FEELINGS AND FANTASIES. YOU DECIDE WHO GOES WHERE AND WHAT PATH THEY WILL TAKE. BY ACTIVATING, YOU WILL CREATE NEW SCENARIOS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS. USE YOUR IMAGINATION, TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS AND HAVE FUN.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Tualatin Station

18955 SW Boones Ferry Road

The Tualatin Station has the most sizable and visually-imposing platform on the WES line, with nearly the entire platform covered by a peaked roof and topped by a 4-sided clock tower with clocks by Electric Time. The Tualatin Station features a 154-space Park & Ride lot, 6 bike lockers and 24 covered bike rack spaces. It connects with TriMet's #76 bus line.

Because the WES trains and the freight trains have to share the same track here, a gauntlet track is used to let the WES trains get closer to the platform while still giving freight trains the clearance they need.

Just north of the Tualatin Station the WES line passes Tualatin Community Park and passes underneath another rail line. The rail line that crosses over the WES line was originally built in 1886 as the narrow-gauge Portland & Willamette Valley Railway Company between downtown Portland and Dundee, through Lake Oswego and Newberg. Within a few years it was taken over by the Southern Pacific Railroad and standard-gauged, and between 1914 and 1929 the line was used by Southern Pacific's "Red Electric" interurbans, a competitor of the Oregon Electric Railway that originally operated the line WES now runs on, carrying passengers between Portland and Corvallis. These lines remained competitors into the 1990s, with the Oregon Electric having become part of Burlington Northern Santa Fe while the Southern Pacific became part of Union Pacific. Today, both are operated by the Portland & Western Railroad.

At the north end of Tualatin Community Park, the WES line crosses the Tualatin River on this truss bridge. This truss span may date from the original construction of this line as the Oregon Electric Railway in 1906. The long north approach of this bridge was rebuilt to accommodate WES trains, but the main span and short south approach remain.

The following video shows a WES train crossing this bridge during a demonstration trip on January 21, 2009.

Tigard Transit Center

8960 SW Commercial Street

The Tigard Transit Center features a 100-space Park & Ride lot, 4 bike lockers and 14 bike rack spaces and connects to five TriMet bus lines. The Tigard platform is roughly the midpoint of the line and is where WES trains are scheduled to pass, and thus the platform is between two tracks. The track on the east side of the platform is a gauntlet track like at Tualatin to allow for the passage of freight trains. The track on the west side of the platform is a regular track for WES trains only. Northbound WES trains use the east side of the platform while southbound WES trains use the west side of the platform.

Hall/Nimbus Station

8505 SW Cascade Avenue

I don't have any pictures of the Hall/Nimbus Station behind Cascade Plaza in Beaverton, adjacent to SW Hall Boulevard near its intersection with SW Nimbus Avenue, as is is the smallest and has the least visual interest of the five stations. It is a raised platform like the others on the east side of the track with two bus-stop-style shelters and the "interactivator" on it. The station uses a gauntlet track like at the Tualatin station to allow for the passage of freight trains. The station connects to three TriMet bus lines and features 10 bike lockers and 16 bike rack spaces and a 50-space Park & Ride lot that is more of an alley behind Cascade Plaza with diagonal parking. Full-length TriMet buses cannot directly access the WES station as they cannot negotiate the tight exit from the parking lot. (I was on one that tried on January 30th.)

Beaverton Transit Center

4050 SW Lombard Avenue

The Beaverton Transit Center at the north end of the WES line connects to the MAX light rail Blue and Red Lines and numerous TriMet bus lines and features 38 bike lockers and 48 bike rack spaces, but no Park & Ride lot. The WES line separates from the freight rail line south of the platform, so no freight trains pass the Beaverton platform and no gauntlet track is needed.

Grand Opening

January 30, 2009

Though the official start of service was Monday, February 2, 2009, on the previous Friday, January 30, there was a special Grand Opening celebration, with free rides being offered through the middle of the day at all five WES stations. On previous days, rides during the test runs had been available by invitation, mainly to the media and VIPs.  Below are pictures of signage used leading up to the WES Grand Opening.

Here is an example of the tickets being handed out for the free rides. This is one of two I got at the Tigard Transit Center. These tickets were only good at the station they were received at, and were only good for a one-way trip. To get back, TriMet was running shuttle buses, or one could get in line for another ticket.

Free slices of this WES cake were being offered at the Tigard Transit Center.

The following video shows WES trains at the Tigard Transit Center on January 30, 2009.

I saw these scratchbuilt HO-Scale WES models, undoubtedly the first anywhere, on the Beaverton Modular Railroad Club's layout at the 2009 Great Train Expo in Portland on February 14, 2009. The club was invited to display at some of the events for the WES opening, so they built these models.

Related Links:

TriMet: Washington County Commuter Rail

TriMet: WES Commuter Rail Service

Westside Express Service (WES) from the Association of Oregon Rail & Transit Advocates

Westside Express Service (WES) from Rose City & NorthWestern

Colorado Railcar DMU Roster

First railcars arrive for west-side commuter line (Oregonian, June 19, 2009)

WES rail car debuts in Wilsonville (Portland Tribune, June 19, 2008)

Westside Express Service faces delays (Oregonian, July 29, 2008)

TriMet's new Westside Express Service prepared to take to the rails this fall (Oregonian, August 21, 2008)

TriMet delays opening of Westside commuter rail line until February (Oregonian, October 1, 2008)

Commuter rail line sidetracked by financial woes (Portland Tribune, October 1, 2008)

TriMet's Westside Express Service delayed (Oregonian, October 9, 2008)

Westside Express deal cost TriMet millions (Oregonian, December 14, 2008)

Company behind TriMet WES railcars fails (Oregonian, December 30, 2008)

Ready to ride? On board the westside commuter rail (Oregonian, January 21, 2009)

WES train rolls out for inaugural run (Oregonian, January 21, 2009)

Electrical problems on Westside Express Service sidelines trains (Oregonian, February 20, 2009)

WES service needs bus help for several more days (Oregonian, February 23, 2009)

Also See:

2009 Great Train Expo

Northwest Railroad Depots

Amtrak's Pinch Hitters

Lewis & Clark Explorer

Northwest Short Lines

PORTLAND PLACES - Willamette Shore Trolley

PORTLAND PLACES - Union Station

All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted.  Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission.  Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.

Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.