Starting Monday, June 8, southbound Amtrak passengers no longer stop at the U.S. border.

Customs clearance now happens entirely at Vancouver's Pacific Central Station before departure — making it the first rail station in North America with U.S. preclearance status, joining 16 airports worldwide, according to a WSDOT announcement June 10.

The trip now takes four hours flat. Seattle hosts six FIFA World Cup matches at Lumen Field starting June 15, while Vancouver hosts seven. Amtrak Cascades is now a seamless rail link between the two host cities.

"This is a milestone year for train travel in the Pacific Northwest," said Washington Secretary of Transportation Julie Meredith. Amtrak President Roger Harris called it "a historic moment for passenger rail in North America." The change required years of negotiation and construction upgrades at Pacific Central, per U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Seattle terminus is King Street Station (303 S Jackson St), which is 10 minutes by rideshare from Queen Anne and 20 from Ballard. From Ballard, the RapidRide D runs to Westlake; from Queen Anne, Route 2 connects downtown. Magnolia is a 15-minute drive via 15th Ave W. Trains run twice daily.

In 2025, 149,000 passengers traveled the Vancouver corridor, making Pacific Central the system's third-busiest stop. With both cities hosting matches this summer, cross-border demand will far exceed anything the corridor has seen. All Aboard Washington, which has advocated for Cascades improvements for years, had not yet commented as of publication

The new Siemens Airo trainsets won't be in service until late summer or fall 2026, per WSDOT.

Book tickets at amtrakcascades.com.