Sounder commuter rail service to Kent and Puyallup begins on Feb. 5, community celebration of Kent Sounder Station opening on Feb. 3

After more than 60 years, trains will once again stop in Kent and Puyallup when new Sounder commuter rail service begins on Feb. 5. Sounder's two weekday round trips between Tacoma and Seattle will depart from Puyallup at 6:28 and 6:58 a.m. and Kent at 6:49 and 7:19 a.m. In the afternoon, Sounder will arrive at Kent at 5:34 and 5:59 p.m. and Puyallup at 5:55 and 6:20 p.m. Responding to customer requests, Sounder will now depart from Seattle 10 to 15 minutes earlier in the afternoon, leaving King Street Station at 5:10 and 5:35 p.m.

Both stations at Kent and Puyallup will be fully operational with Sounder's high¬tech ticket vending machines and initial parking of 300 stalls at Kent and 60 stalls at Puyallup. Another 300 parking stalls will be available at Puyallup in May and a five story parking garage with 680 stalls will open at Kent by the end of the year.

On Saturday Feb. 3, a special community celebration of the Kent Station opening begins at 11 a.m. featuring the Kent Junior High School band and Sound Transit and local elected officials. A special Sounder train will depart at 12:05 p.m. for an open house at Sound Transit's Union Station headquarters greeted by Sound Transit mascot Zap Gridlock. Due to the early and tremendous public response, the special Sounder train on Feb 3. is already full. Sounder will leave King Street Station at 1:50 p.m. and arrive at Kent Station at 2:15 p.m.

In mid-March, the full complement of seven Sounder stations between Tacoma and Seattle will be complete when service begins at Tukwila Station, more than six months ahead of the original September opening schedule. Sound Transit, the City of Tukwila and Boeing have worked together to accelerate building a temporary station. In less than four months of service, Sounder is already averaging more daily riders per train than some established commuter rail lines such as Los Angeles and Dallas. Even with the limited two train schedule and four stations, Sounder is averaging more than 1,300 riders a day. Once all seven stations between Tacoma and Seattle are open and a third train is added, Sounder should easily reach and surpass the original opening day projections of 1,500 riders per day. Ridership numbers are for regular weekday service only and do not include the Mariners trains or other special service. Sounder's customer information line is 1-888-889-6368; for TTY hearing impaired users please call 1-888-713-6030 and the Sounder Web site is www.sounder.or~. For general Sound Transit information please visit the Sound Transit Web site at www.soundtransit.or /, or call or write for more information at Sound Transit, Union Station, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104, 206-398-5000 or toll free 1-800-201-4900.