The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train will move to Tacoma in August – taking with it the 100,000 people who ride the train each year.
Eric Temple, the train’s owner, was considering a route between Woodinville and Snohomish when the current run shuts down in King County this summer.
Temple said Wednesday that his company plans to add two more trains in a few years and he’s still looking at the Woodinville-Snohomish route.
“We are more confident than ever about coming down to Snohomish from Woodinville,” Temple said.
The other route would be between Vancouver, Wash., and Mount St. Helens, Temple said.
The dinner train currently runs between Renton and Woodinville, but the company must shut down the route on July 31 because of an expansion of I-405 that will affect the railroad tracks.
Under a 10-month contract reached between Temple and the city of Tacoma, the dinner train will begin running on Aug. 3 between downtown Tacoma and Lake Kapowsin in Eatonville.
That will allow the dinner train to keep running almost uninterrupted, said Randy Bannecker, a spokesman for the dinner train.
“We don’t want to be in a position to lay off employees,” Bannecker said.
If the train service becomes successful, Temple and Tacoma could extend the contract for up to 20 years, said Chris Gleason, a spokeswoman for Tacoma Public Utilities.
Since its inception in 1992, the dinner train has served 1.4 million guests, according to a press release issued by Gleason. The train helped rejuvenate downtown Renton and has supported 80 full-time jobs.
Meanwhile, Temple said that his company continues to negotiate with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to operate on a new route between Snohomish and Woodinville.
The train could come to Snohomish by the end of this year, Temple said.
Business leaders and city officials in Snohomish and Woodinville have wooed the dinner train, saying it would improve tourism and the economy of their communities.
“It showcases our valley,” said Colleen Hill, president of the Snohomish Chamber of Commerce. “It’s just an incredible opportunity.”
Wednesday’s announcement caught John Erdman, executive director of the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce, off guard.
“I’m not a happy camper with their decision,” Erdman said.
The deal means there’s less urgency for Temple to start a Snohomish-Woodinville route, Erdman said.
Securing the Snohomish-Woodinville route depends on the outcome of a complicated proposal among the railway, the Port of Seattle and King County.
The port is planning to buy from the railway the 40-mile rail corridor between Snohomish and Woodinville. Then the port intends to trade the trail corridor to King County in exchange for Boeing Field, the commercial airport that King County operates.
King County plans to keep the railroad track intact between Snohomish and Woodinville so that the dinner train could operate on it, said Carolyn Duncan, a spokeswoman for King County Executive Ron Sims.
People in Snohomish are hopeful about the outcome of the proposal, Hill said.
“We’ve done everything we can,” she said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@ heraldnet.com.
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