Our light rail system grew a lot this year, with the opening of the Lynnwood Link extension and the first segment of the 2 Line. Even more growth is coming, as we plan for the opening of the full 2 Line across Lake Washington.
But we still have work to do to connect the new line to our existing system. That means a series of necessary disruptions to Link service in the weeks and months ahead.
We recognize the combined impact of unplanned and planned disruptions on our passengers. We continue to balance the need for construction with service to passengers by working to minimize the impact of planned disruptions on our riders.
While we try to do as much work as possible at times that won’t impact riders, sometimes it’s unavoidable. To tie in the East Link extension signal and power systems to the 1 Line near the International District station, we will have to close the downtown stations for several weekends.
The first disruption will start at 10 p.m. on the evening of Nov. 8 and run through the end of service on Nov. 10. During this time, crews will be commissioning a new signal house and communications system that will enable the connections of the 1 and 2 Lines.
As a result, trains will not be running between Capitol Hill and SODO stations. Instead, a Link shuttle bus will be running between the two stations, stopping at each of the downtown stations along the way. The buses will run approximately every 10-15 minutes.
Passengers traveling southbound from Capitol Hill station will have to get off the train and take the shuttle, reconnecting at SODO station if they are continuing to travel south. The same will be true for passengers heading north through SODO station. Link trains will be running approximately every 15 minutes between SODO and Angle Lake and between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill.
We plan to close the downtown stations again for two weekends in January and another in February. We will keep you posted on the dates.
We also have another planned service disruption coming up, this one unrelated to the East Link extension work.
As you may recall, we suffered a significant outage last September, when a train damaged the overhead catenary system (OCS) on the northbound tracks near the UW station. This is the system that provides power to the train.
We were able to repair the OCS enough to return to service, but riders through that part of the alignment will have noticed that trains are running extra slowly. That’s to make sure that the OCS system does not suffer any more damage.
To complete the repairs, we will need to close the affected section of the track. We’re planning to do this repair work the weekend of Dec. 7-8.
The work will require trains to single track around the area, leading to longer wait times for some trains, and will also require passengers to transfer between trains at University District and Capitol Hill stations. Information about that work is already available on our website, but we will be providing you with more detailed information as we get closer to the start date.
As with all of our planned disruptions, we will have Sound Transit staff at the affected stations to assist you. You should also count on extra travel time to get to your destination.
We’re planning the projects to coincide as much as possible with times when we expect travel to be lighter on Link. Even so, we know that these disruptions will impact a lot of riders, and we are sorry for the inconvenience.
Growing our system and keeping it in good repair is important work, and we appreciate your patience while we do so. The result will be a Link that can take you to even more places safely and quickly.