Great Northern Tunnel

Great Northern Tunnel

File:Seattle - South Portal of train tunnel 02.jpg South Portal of the tunnel
Overview
Location	Seattle, Washington
Coordinates
System	Amtrak Empire Builder Amtrak Cascades Sounder commuter rail
Operation
Opened	1905
Owner	BNSF Great Northern Railway (original)
Operator	BNSF
Character	passenger, freight
Technical
Line length	1 mile (1.6 km)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Tunnel clearance	28 feet (8.5 m)

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 highest 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.

File:Seattle - South Portal of train tunnel 01.jpg

A more distant view of the South Portal of the tunnel