LINK Interior
Photo by Adam Parast

Each Link car has 74 seats, with room for another hundred and twenty or more standing. The trains can run up to four cars, so that’s as many as 296 seats, and 800 total riders.

In 1974, BART began operation in the Trans-bay tube under the San Francisco Bay. Also, the Seoul Subway first opened that year, and that system now already has ten lines. 1974 was the last year electric trains ran on the Milwaukee Railroad that connected Chicago to Seattle

Link’s launch is in just 74 days.

11 Replies to “74 Days”

  1. I’m stoked that Central Link opens in 74 days…hard to believe. However, it’s more than a little depressing that all of that electrified track was dismantled. I had thought that it was only electrified over the Cascades, but according to that Wikipedia article it was Seattle-Tacoma-Othello, WA. In some of the old rolling stock photos I have seen, it looks almost european around here circa 1920. Can you imagine if they would have made that seemingly reasonable infrastructure investment described in Wikipedia? Two steps back for every one forward, I guess.

  2. On May 6th, 1935 (i.e. 74 years ago on this Wednesday) the Works Progress Administration was created. Until 1941 it spent over $4 billion on highway, road, and street projects. In 2008 dollars that would be over $58 billion!

  3. Yes, the Milwaukee Road was electrified over both the Cascades (Sea/Tac to Othello, 200+ miles) and over the Rockies (Avery, ID to Harlowtown, MT, nearly 450 miles) with a 225 mile gap in the wires from Northern Idaho to Central Washington. Most of this route in WA is the “John Wayne” trail today. The Milwaukee was the last of the northern transcontinentals to be built, and the first to withdraw passenger service and the first to wither and die.

    AND, the Great Northern was also electrified over the Cascades, though only from Skykomish through the Cascade tunnel to Wenatchee, about 75 miles – this is still the route of the Empire Builder today. Ventilation was added to the tunnel in the mid-1950s and the wires were pulled down shortly thereafter.

  4. Because of the size of the Pine Street stub tunnel, where the Link trains will turn back, the longest consist you will see until 2016 will be 3 cars, except when a train turns back at Stadium Station.

    1. And the Scab Times had a photo of it on their website for a short time today.

      Explain to me why the existing Metro routes on these same corridors could not just have their frequencies increased??

      1. They could of, but the wider and more numerous doors along with the pre board fare machines and the re-striping of the roadway, timing of the lights for bus priority makes the Rapid part of the trip. We could have used the basic 2 door bus and just opened both doors but the funding for the system allowed for new buses which were needed anyway for the increased number running.

    2. I was actually there on that RapidRide bus and I have to say I’m excited for RapidRide. BRT is more than just increasing buses, it includes speed & reliability improvements to reduce travel time and the occurrence of “bunching”, 3-door buses with more standing room, off-board pre-payment with ORCA, fewer stops, improved real-time arrival info at nicer “stations”, and “branding” to differentiate service in those corridors as better than a regular bus to attract riders.

      BRT here is what Europeans already enjoy on their regular plain old bus service. We would certainly love more of that. You must read the P-I comments, Sam, it’ll give you a laugh. Those folks are completely writing off the whole concept.

  6. I’ve actually ridden the Seoul subway. Great system for a confused Anglo to get around a large city when he only knows 2 words of the local lingo.

  7. i really wish the designers of these systems would visit cities in europe/asia.

    there are too many seats on these things. more floor space = ability to carry on luggage, ability to bring on stroller, ability to pack it in during rush hour.

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