Location Seattle, Washington Operator BNSF No. of tracks 2 | Opened 1905 Character passenger, freight Line length 1,609 m | |
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System Amtrak Empire Builder
Amtrak Cascades
Sounder commuter rail Owners BNSF Railway, Great Northern Railway | ||
Seattle s great northern tunnel bridge structurally damaged 2
The Great Northern Tunnel is a 1-mile (1.6 km) double tracked railway tunnel under downtown Seattle, Washington, completed by the Great Northern Railway in 1905, and now owned by the BNSF Railway, on its Scenic Subdivision. At the time it was built, it was the tallest and widest tunnel in the United States at 28 feet (8.5 m) high and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide.
The southern portal is just north of King Street Station, the northern in Victor Steinbrueck Park, below the Alaskan Way Viaduct, between Virginia and Pine Streets. The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel passes four feet below the Great Northern Tunnel.
Freight and passenger trains use the tunnel, including Amtrak to Chicago ("Empire Builder") and Vancouver, B.C. ("Cascades"), and Sound Transit's Seattle-Everett "Sounder" commuter train.