page_title: Point Defiance Bypass
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Point Defiance Bypass / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Workers on a section of the under construction Point Defiance Bypass in Lakewood, Washington, seen from Lakewood station.
context_page_description: The Point Defiance Bypass is a 14.5-mile-long rail line between the cities of DuPont and Tacoma in Pierce County, Washington. It was originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway – the Tacoma–Lakewood segment in 1874 as part of the Prairie Line, and the Lakewood–DuPont section in 1891. Passenger service on the lines declined after the 1914 completion of a flatter route along the Puget Sound, and ended entirely in 1956.
  The route was identified as a passenger rail bypass in 1992. Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood began in 2012. The $181.1 million improvement of the remaining section began construction in 2015 as part of general improvements to the Amtrak Cascades corridor to eliminate the slow and winding route along the Puget Sound shoreline that included single-track tunnels. It was opened for Amtrak service on December 18, 2017, but the first Cascades train derailed at speed on a bridge over Interstate 5 while traveling southbound near DuPont. Amtrak service was rerouted to the old line pending investigation and upgrades.
context_section_description: The Northern Pacific Railway (NP) opened the Prairie Line – part of its planned transcontinental mainline – through Yelm and Lakewood on January 5, 1874. On May 1, 1891, the NP-owned Tacoma, Olympia & Grays Harbor Railroad completed a 24.7-mile-long (39.8 km) branch of the Northern Pacific between Lakeview (near modern Lakewood) and Lacey, passing through the Fort Lewis military base. By 1914, the NP (plus the GN and UP under trackage rights) operated 11 daily round trips over the Prairie Line, plus 3 daily round trips to Grays Harbor over the newer branch.
  Just south of Tacoma, the Prairie Line had a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) section of difficult 2.2% grade. In 1914, the NP opened the Point Defiance Line along the coast of Puget Sound and around Point Defiance. Part of the line to Grays Harbor was used by the new line; the section between DuPont and Lakewood became the American Lake Branch. Most NP and UP passenger and freight service moved to the newer, flatter line. On August 8, 1943, the GN moved its remaining Seattle–Portland round trip to the Point Defiance Line, leaving only NP trains to Grays Harbor on the old line. Those trains were discontinued in February 1956, leaving the American Lake Branch and the Tacoma–Tenino section of the Prairie Line used only by freight service. The GN and NP were merged into the Burlington Northern Railway (BN) in 1970. In 1973, the BN increased clearances on the Point Defiance Line, allowing trains carrying Boeing aircraft parts to use that line. Long-distance freight service was removed from the Prairie Line, and it was abandoned south of Yelm in 1986.
  The Point Defiance Line, however, proved not to be ideal for Amtrak passenger service. Mudslides frequently closed the line, and the 1988 conversion of two tunnels to single track to further increase freight clearances limited capacity. In 1992, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) identified the American Lake Branch and the northern section of the Prairie Line as a potential alignment for a new Amtrak bypass of Point Defiance. In April 2003, the BNSF Railway (the successor to the BN) removed the remaining 2.1 miles (3.4 km) of the Prairie Line in Tacoma from service, thus allowing Sound Transit to build the Tacoma Link without an expensive level crossing. In return, Sound Transit funded repairs to the American Lake Branch for continued BNSF freight service to Fort Lewis, while Tacoma Rail took over freight service on the line in Tacoma. BNSF sold the Tacoma–Lakewood section to Sound Transit for commuter rail use in 2004 for $13.4 million, with BNSF retaining a freight easement.
  WSDOT published a long-range plan for the Amtrak Cascades corridor in 2006, outlining a series of projects needed before reactivating passenger rail service on the line. The projects, known collectively as the Point Defiance Bypass, included rebuilding of tracks and ties, a new signal system, improvements to at-grade crossings, and a $230 million bridge to replace a viaduct crossing Interstate 5 on a tight curve near the Nisqually River. The project ultimately did not include the Nisqually bridge, which became the site of the 2017 derailment.
  The Point Defiance Bypass project underwent environmental review in 2006 and started final design in 2007. The $181 million project was funded through transportation packages previously approved by the state legislature, as well as the federal stimulus package of 2009. Officials from Lakewood and DuPont voiced their concerns about safety and increased traffic congestion resulting from the bypass's construction, leading to concessions in the final design by the state. Construction began in 2009, with the northern end connected to a former UP line at Tacoma Dome Station, and Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood began in October 2012. Construction on the Nisqually–Lakewood segment began in 2015 and was completed in late 2016. Testing of trains at full speeds of up to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h) was conducted from January 2017 to December 2017.
  The bypass is planned to carry twelve daily Amtrak trains on 
caption: A section of the Point Defiance Bypass in Lakewood, seen from Lakewood station
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