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After two rounds of public outreach, including a monthlong series of town hall meetings in November, the Oregon Passenger Rail Leadership Council has narrowed its list of possible intercity, high-speed passenger rail routes to two.

Sizable hurdles remain before the state could even become eligible to receive possible federal funding in the future. However, the council – a group of mostly elected officials appointed by the governor – now has a clearer vision of which routes between the Eugene-Springfield and Portland-Vancouver, Wash. urban areas need further study, said John Russell, council co-chairman and owner of Russell Development Co.

“We wanted to know if (in the short term) there is demand,” he said. “Second, what would you do if there is a national program that brings significant money for true high-speed rail rivaling Japan, other parts of Asia and Europe.”

The potential rail corridor was broken up into three sections – Section A from Eugene to Albany, Section B from Albany to north of Wilsonville, and Section C from north of Wilsonville to Vancouver, Wash. In those sections, four different lines were studied – “red,” “blue,” “yellow” and “purple.”

The so-called red line, which would be a high-speed, intercity passenger rail that would run along Interstate 5, was favored highly in Sections A and B, said Jill Pearson, an Oregon Department of Transportation engagement strategist for the Major Projects Branch. The red’s advantages include shortest travel distance, no at-grade crossings and no disturbance of freight traffic, she said.

However, the possibility of extending the red line to Vancouver was eliminated, Pearson said.

“There is not going to be a new line in Portland,” she said. “The route along I-5 is just very curvy. There are a lot of topography issues.”

The blue line, which would use the existing Amtrak-Cascades line owned by Union Pacific, got overwhelmingly higher rankings and support in Section C, Pearson said. Section A supported the blue about the same as the red, and Section B supported the blue slightly less than the red. The blue line’s advantages include its lower construction costs due to existing track (the red would be built from scratch). Additionally, the blue could be phased in over time.

Both the purple line, which would have used portions of the Oregon Electric Railway, and the yellow line, which would have brought a line west through Corvallis, were eliminated from consideration in Section A, Pearson said. Purple, however, remained on the table in Section B as a future possibility.

The blue line would not be an easy option for the Portland area, Russell said. Doing so would create conflicts on surface streets, particularly through the city’s Central Eastside district.

“You could either elevate the tracks, or more likely, you could bury them,” he said.

Additionally, an alternative came to light at last week’s council meeting: possible tunnel construction under Portland’s West Hills to reach Union Station, Russell said.

“The other virtue with this alternative is that it intersects with TriMet’s efforts to put light rail out to Tigard,” he said. “The more connections you can make, the more attractive the train is.”

Both the red and blue lines warrant further study, said Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, council co-chairwoman.

“The red line appeals to people because it reduces impact on neighborhoods and the community, and it’s a straight shot that reduces cost,” she said. “But there are serious questions about what it would cost because you would have to build a totally new line.”

The blue, meanwhile, would be less expensive, but share a line with Union Pacific and face many more interferences along the way, Piercy said.

“UP is watching to see what we’re doing,” she said. “They have limits in terms of being sure that passenger rail doesn’t put any limitations on freight.”

In the end, the southern sections could choose to use stretches of the blue and red lines, she said.

“Until we get through the process, we won’t be ready for the conversation about high speed,” she said. “But if the money comes, we have to get ourselves ready to move.”

Next steps include sending the recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration for approval. Then the state would conduct a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which could require about a year.

A preferred line would be selected by the end of 2015 and a final decision made by 2016, according to ODOT. For more information, visit .