In October, the Portland & Western Railroad will start operating the new Washington County commuter rail service between Beaverton and Wilsonville, over a distance of 15 miles. News of this development should cause ears to perk up around here, where heavy commuter traffic barrels back and forth on the Albany-Corvallis Highway, a distance of some 10 miles, every morning and afternoon.

All those work and school commuters between Albany and Corvallis might be interested in a dreamed-up scenario along the following line:

You walk or ride your bike down to the depot in the town where you live. After a wait of 10 or 15 minutes, you carry your bike on the train. Twenty minutes later you get off in the other town and spend five minutes walking or riding to where you want to go. In the afternoon, the opposite routine plays out.

The track between Albany and Corvallis, owned by the Union Pacific and leased by the Portland & Western, is not heavily trafficked, being used by a few freights per day. It would be no big scheduling headache to add two or three commuter runs per hour during the morning and afternoon.

There are numerous hurdles to carrying out such an idea, which has been mentioned off and on over the years by, among others, Benton County Commissioner Linda Modrell. But if intercity commuter rail works in Washington County, it would be worth at least a review to see if it could be made to work in the mid-valley as well. Our commuter traffic is not as heavy, but the operating expenses likely would be less as well.

Improving the rails to allow greater speeds would have to be a first step. Federal taxpayers are about to spend $8 million on rebuilding the trestle just north of the Willamette River. It would be nice for the commuting public to get a benefit from that.

The appeal of the notion lies partly in the fancy cars that have been purchased for the Washington County service. Far more than a bus, these coaches make commuting by public transportation an attractive proposition wherever they show up.

During the height of the flood in early 1996, the Willamette & Pacific, as it was known at the time, when it was still based in Albany, ran passenger trains just across the river for a day or so to help people out. It was a neighborly gesture, done because the railroad's boss was trying to do something nice. That kind of helpful attitude would be good now that the cost of motor fuel is forcing people to look for attractive alternatives to the private intercity commute.

For maybe a thousand or so workers and students in Albany and Corvallis, this Rail of Two Cities, if it proved feasible at all, might have a great deal of appeal. (hh)