Overview
- A new Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) is needed in South King County to store and service a growing train fleet. This will support future light rail extensions to Tacoma, West Seattle, and the entire region.
- An OMF is where light rail trains go 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for cleaning and repairs. To build this new facility, we need approximately 60-70 acres (for reference, one football field is 1.3 acres) near an operating Link line.
- We need four OMFs across the region to support our system expansion. Currently, we service the existing light rail fleet at a central OMF on South Forest Street in Seattle. We've built a second facility in Bellevue and will add another OMF north of Seattle.
Benefits of the OMF South
- This facility will create high-skilled, living-wage jobs for more than 610 people in South King County. At our existing OMF Central in Seattle and OMF East in Bellevue, the average employee wage is $45 per hour, or $85,000/year.
- OMFs ensure thousands of passengers ride clean, well-maintained trains. We suspend service every night between 1-5 a.m. so we can service our Link trains.
Current project status
Sound Transit and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have published a joint National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)/State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) South project after holding public comment periods for the 2021 SEPA Draft EIS and 2023 NEPA Draft/SEPA Supplemental Draft EIS.
We expect the Sound Transit Board to select the project to be built as soon as June 27 and the Federal Transit Administration to issue its Record of Decision for the project in Q3 2024.
After the Record of Decision, Sound Transit will begin final design and construction for the project. Sound Transit is working towards an OMF South opening date between 2032-2037, depending on the alternative selected to be built.
Sound Transit is pursuing measures to advance the scheduled opening to as early as 2030. If the Midway Landfill alternative is selected as the project to be built, the opening date would be between 2035 and 2037, depending on the subsurface construction design option. We will share an updated project schedule when we have more certainty.
The South 336th Street alternative in Federal Way remains the preferred alternative. The Sound Transit Board will select the project to be built after publication of the Final EIS.
Due to the changes, Sound Transit is revising the project schedule. We are exploring opportunities to maintain opening in 2029 but may be delayed until 2032. We will share an updated project schedule when we have more certainty.
Have any additional questions or comments? We're always here to help. You can contact the project team at omfsouth@soundtransit.org.
We encourage you to sign up for project email updates for all the latest news as OMF South develops.
What can I expect as a project neighbor?
If you live, own a business, or own a property near a potential OMF South site, sign up for email updates to stay informed about the project. If you have any questions or want to schedule a meeting to learn more, contact the project team at omfsouth@soundtransit.org.
In the Final EIS, we’ll further study the site alternatives and will respond to substantive comments received from the Draft EIS comment periods in 2021 and 2023.
After issuing the Final EIS, the Sound Transit Board will finalize a decision on the site and the project to be built.
Aerial view of the Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle.
An inside look at the Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle.
Workers perform maintenance on Link light rail trains every night at the Operations and Maintenance Facility in Seattle.
