Amtrak passengers traveling from Vancouver, British Columbia, into the United States are about to enjoy a quicker ride, days before the World Cup brings thousands of soccer fans to Vancouver and Seattle.
Riders on the Cascades route, which runs between the cities, will now go through U.S. customs at Pacific Central Station, in Vancouver, eliminating a stop for border screening, the rail operator announced on Wednesday. The change does not affect passengers crossing from the United States into Canada.
Cascades passengers previously underwent two passport checks — one in Vancouver and one in Blaine, Wash., the first stop after crossing into the United States.
The streamlined screening comes three days before Vancouver hosts its first match, on Saturday, and five before Seattle’s first kickoff, on Monday. Vancouver is hosting seven matches, and Seattle, a roughly four-hour Amtrak ride south, is hosting six.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance program, which inspects travelers headed to the United States before departure, is available at more than a dozen airports, including the primary international hubs serving Abu Dhabi, Ireland and the Bahamas, as well as Canadian cities including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. The ferry terminal in Victoria, British Columbia, also takes part in the program.
Pacific Central is the first train station to have a U.S. preclearance program. Amtrak advises on its website that passengers traveling from Vancouver into the United States should arrive at least one hour before departure to complete processing.
Amtrak’s president, Roger Harris, said in a statement that the change would make “cross-border travel faster, easier and more seamless” for rail passengers entering the United States from Vancouver.
While the exact number of passengers expected to go through preclearance in Vancouver wasn’t immediately clear, nearly 150,000 passengers traveled to and from British Columbia on Amtrak Cascades trains in 2025, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The change also comes ahead of the introduction of Amtrak’s new Airo trains, which will debut on the Cascades route later this year.
