The first of Sound Transit’s new Series 2 light rail vehicles rolled into service today, giving riders a taste of the new trains that will more than triple Sound Transit’s light rail fleet by 2024.
The new vehicles, manufactured by Siemens Mobility, have larger windows, a wider center-car aisle, more seats with space to stow luggage, and four bicycle hooks—twice as many as the first generation cars.
They feature 70 seats and new dynamic passenger information displays and LED lighting improvements. Here's a few quick highlights.
We ordered 152 new vehicles to add to the current fleet of 62 as new light rail lines to Northgate, Lynnwood, Federal Way and the Eastside open over the next three years and the system grows from 22 to 62 miles.
Today we have six of the new trains in service with 38 more on site going through their final testing and "burn in" on the rails. More trains will roll into service as they're certified.
Curious to see how these new trains are made?
Check out this longer video that walks through the manufacturing process and meet the people making it happen.
Looking back at the first train arrivals
(Editor's note: this portion of the story was originally published in June, 2019.)
Early on the morning of June 6, 2019, Sound Transit got a long-awaited delivery at its Link Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle: the first of its new light rail vehicles.
The vehicle, which came wrapped on a flatbed truck from Sacramento, Calif., will be joined by 151 more new Link vehicles over the next five years.
After unwrapping the vehicle and assembling some additional parts, Sound Transit debuted the vehicle to the press today.
The first of 152 new Link light rail vehicles to be delivered to Sound Transit over the next five years.
The new Link light rail vehicles feature a roomier center section.
The new Link light rail vehicles will feature improved digital signs, aka dynamic passenger information displays.
The new Link light rail vehicles have four bike hooks per car. The current fleet has two per car.
The new vehicles will be arriving at the rate of one to three per month and are a reminder of that Sound Transit is entering a period of major system expansion.
Service to Northgate opens Oct. 2, followed by service to Bellevue in 2023 and service to Lynnwood, downtown Redmond and Federal Way in 2024.
Subsequent vehicles are each undergoing 300 miles of "burn-in" testing.
Sound Transit’s 62 first generation vehicles will be retrofitted with an on-board system updated for new speed codes required for the future East Link line and will be swapped out for the new trains as they pass their final testing.
We'll see you back on board!