As planned late last year, Link service has been disrupted for several weekends this winter as Sound Transit works to complete several projects requiring closure of track in Downtown and the U-District. The final planned disruption was scheduled for this weekend (February 21 to 23) as a contingency weekend in case work completed the previous weekend needed more time.
This week, Sound Transit announced they would be making use of part of the contingency weekend and an additional weekend to complete additional work. Link 1 Line service between Capitol Hill and SODO stations will be replaced by bus shuttles on Sunday, February 23, returning to normal service during the week. Link 1 Line service will then be replaced by bus shuttles between Capitol Hill and SODO stations from 10pm on Friday, February 28, to end of service on Sunday, March 2.
Operation Chilly
During the latest meeting of Sound Transit’s Rider Experience and Operations Committee, agency staff presented an update on service disruptions planned for 2025 and 2026.
The latest set of planned service disruptions started in January as part of “Operation Chilly”, a set of projects including installation of the roof at Pinehurst Station, integration of signals and electrical systems where the 2 Line meets the 1 Line near International District/Chinatown Station, repair of the overhead catenary wire near UW Station, and completion of “multiple” unspecified projects to improve resiliency in the tunnel through Downtown Seattle.
According to the agency staff presentation, repair of the overhead wire near UW station was completed on February 2 along with some resiliency projects in other parts of the tunnel. Electrical tie-in work for the 2 Line was scheduled for last weekend (February 14-16) with this weekend (February 21 to 23) reserved as a contingency work period. It’s not clear if the additional work scheduled for next weekend is due to delays completing the 2 Line tie-in work or if extra time is needed to complete the various resiliency projects the Sound Transit had hoped to complete earlier in the Operation.
Working Around Two World Cups
Looking ahead through 2026, Sound Transit is planning future service disruptions with an eye on service changes and two major international international soccer tournaments being partially hosted by Seattle: the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 this summer, and the FIFA World Cup 26 tournament next summer.
Future projects requiring service disruptions include:
- Completion of stairwells at Pinehurst Station in April 2025,
- Construction of pedestrian crossing gates at four at-grade stations from June 2025 through April 2026, and
- Replacement (again?!) of Downtown Transit Tunnel rail and an electrical power line tentatively scheduled for July-August 2025.
Additional details on these upcoming projects will likely appear in months to come. Hopefully, some of this maintenance work will reduce the frequency of Link’s unplanned service disruptions, which Sound Transit declared to be an emergency last month.
The ride at the curve next to westlake has already become rough again. It does have a tight radius, maybe close to the limit they can do? It would be a bad situation to have twice as many trains going over it if they can’t make it wear less quickly with this replacement.
ST replaced rail in the downtown transit tunnel last year and the year before, both instances requiring service impacts and single-tracking:
https://seattletransitblog.com/2024/05/07/spring-2024-link-disruption/
https://seattletransitblog.com/2023/08/11/link-month-of-reductions/
I’m curious which sections of rail they’ve been replacing. I wonder if they’ve figured out a better geometry for the Westlake curve, or if they’re just going to have to replace it every few years once they have 15 trains per hour passing through in each directions.
Nathan, I don’t see how ST has any real “choices” about the northbound curve. At the south wall of the station box the pressure rings for the Third Avenue tubes begin.
Widening the radius of the northbound curve would require digging a caisson in the southeast corner, probably some distance into the corner of McDonalds, three stories deep, and far enough into the intersection to include the full width of the northbound tube.
(Maybe it would be possible to have a smaller surface excavation that’s “mined” horizontally to encompass the tube starting near its depth, but that would certainly add to the cost and complexity.)
In either case, once the tube is exposed a small “station box” would be built around it, attached in some way to the existing box, but jutting out to the east, with a diagonal east wall.
Once that is in place and secured, service would be single-tracked because the first several yards of the tube south of the portal would have to be “disassembled” — the compression rings would be unlocked and removed down to track level one at a time southward to the new “portal” at the south side of the new box.
Then a new, wider curve would be built using the extra width provided by the new box.
It would take months.
Just glad I don’t need to take the link this weekend
It is rough, with a 15-minute train meeting a 10-minute shuttle meeting a 15-minute train. A trip from Northgate to the airport with two transfers could include 30 minutes of waiting, or 45 if you consider the initial seat. However, ST has been doing a good job of publicizing these reductions with large posters at stations days in advance, and staff at shuttle stations at least some of the time to help confused passengers, and audio announcements saying a a reduction is coming up. ST also has a chart with bus alternatives for each station pair.
It’s much better publicity and public relations than what Metro has been doing the past few years with cancellations and reroutes and disruptions, where it’s harder to find out something is wrong unless you know where to look (usually checking the alerts webpage or signing up for route-specific email alerts).
Since I live in the middle of the closure zone, I take a bus within the zone or to cross the border without a 15-minute wait. Most of my trips are within the Westlake-Rainier Beach distance, so taking a bus for a couple days isn’t that bad.
If I needed to bypass large parts of the network; e.g., north Seattle to the airport, I’d consider RapidRide E+124+A. The 62 connects other parts of north and northeast Seattle to downtown. Since the wait for a 15-minute bus is the same as a 15-minute train, Link for the last mile between TIB and the airport is also reasonable. It may even be favorable to take the E to downtown + any of the SODO buses to near SODO station (101, 124, 131, 132, 150, 594, maybe more) + Link. Although there have been additional disruptions between SeaTac and Angle Lake, so you may want to avoid TIB-Angle Lake if you’re not sure whether those are happening.
Even though I’m disappointed by the extended closures, I will say – this whole experience has been much, much better than last year. Now, even through disruptions, transit apps have schedules that we can plan around. Station announcements actually say “buses replace trains” instead of just saying that stations are closed and go online for details. Anecdotally, Lynnwood-Capitol Hill trains have actually been really full, even standing room only at U District.
Yes, I think Julie Timm, in her short time as ST CEO, directly improved ST’s approach to rider experience during these disruptions.
The communication regarding unexpected delays on all parts of ST could be much better, though. If you are just reading text messages or the subject lines of emails (which should have the most salient point), it is easy to not understand whether an issue has been solved or continues to be ongoing.
Subject: Reminder: S Line canceled
Actual message: Multiple S Line trains are canceled until further notice due to preventative maintenance scheduling issues with Amtrak. Passengers are encouraged to seek alternate transportation options.
The former makes it sound like all S Line trains are cancelled. Not that hard to add a modifier for someone glancing at their messages on the go.
What is going on with Amtrak’s maintenance staff shortage? DOGE’s handiwork?
ST might need to go in-house with its maintenance staff now.
Amtrak issues are a topic for the latest Open Thread.
It’s not just extended. This weekend was shortened. So it’s +2 days – 1 day = +1 day.
ST even delayed work planned for today until next weekend, just for a Sounders’ home opener. I believe that is the real reason for the extra weekend.
I hope st has a big announcement when the tie in work for lines 1 and 2 is finally complete. I believe this was irj started pre pandemic as “project connect 2020”? well, the very start of the pandemic I guess.and yes. The Westlake curve is slowly starting to get rough again already..
So the speed of light rail can be increased when crossing gates are installed? Right? Or would that make too much sense for ST?
The speed depends on the city’s laws and regulations. Seattle may say Link can’t go faster than the adjacent car lanes even with crossing gates.
If ST wants to avoid preventable collisions with objects in the way, the Laws of Physics, as they pertain to stopping distance, will also have to be obeyed.
The crossing gates are meant to protect from objects or pedestrians in the tracks so that the trains stopping distance shouldn’t matter…
It says pedestrian crossing gates. I’m pretty sure that just means a door that you can swing open, like the ones on the 2 Line today, instead of letting you just run across the track.
The pedestrian gates at Redmond Tech station seem to work pretty well, are easily understood, and easy to swing. The only issue I have with them is pulling the first one the wrong way and it not moving, so I have to try the other direction.
How well do the gates work with wheelchairs? Or blind passengers? Is it possible to get blocked by the gates and stuck on the tracks?
@Brent: Seriously… or for anyone carrying stuff. A lot of time when I take Link I’m carrying musical instruments or luggage (or both). As long as we have to wait for the walk signal to cross into the station I kinda think we should at least get a clear, unobstructed path into the station when we do.
I don’t know what all the options are for safety, but there’s gotta be something better than, “Let’s just make it suck to be on foot.”
I have one of those trips! I want to walk part of the Interurban Trail this morning -AND- get some galangal, that root related to ginger that makes Thai curries taste so wonderful and only some Asian groceries carry (generally those that emphasize Thai ingredients). So the trip is from 110th & Aurora to one bus stop south of Mt Baker station (Mekong Market). With Link in shuttle mode and the 41 gone, it exposes that there’s no other fast way to get from north Seattle to south Seattle anymore.
My most straightforward alternative is E+7, which will probably take almost an hour. Or I may be a good transit reporter and take E+shuttle+Link to see what the experience and ridership and fellow passengers’ attitudes are. Or I may modify the trip and see if that large Vietnamese supermarket at 100th & Aurora is still there, if it has galangal, and if the staff can understand me if I ask if they have galangal and they know what galangal is and the store has it. Those are always iffy.
HT Mart at Oak Tree? Or what ever they call that thing?
Long gone. Not sure if anything else has moved into the footprint.
But it is amazing to me how absolutely indispensable Link has become in just the short time that it has been around. It really points to the need for another N-S line to add resiliency to the system.
Oh, and Asian Food Center is just to the north at 130th.
That’s my starting point, so I’ll try it when I get there.
When I looked for stores focusing on Thai ingredients, I couldn’t find any Thai-themed stores, but that Mekong Market and Viet Wah emphasize Thai ingredients. Viet Wah at 12th & Jackson is now gone.
In the 2000s I frequented Hop Thanh, a small Vietnamese grocery at 12th & Jackson. It had a lot of what I wanted. The owner retired around 2010 and closed it. The storefront at 100th & Aurora was originally a regular supermarket I think, then later it became another Hop Thanh, but when I asked it if it was related to the earlier one, it wasn’t. Hop Thanh may have become HT Mart and then closed.
@Mine Orr,
It was originally a Larry’s. I don’t know if it was something else briefly after that, but it was an HT Mart for a good long time. And it was barely hanging on for most of that time.
I have no idea if something else has gone in there yet.
It’s a Savers something discount supermarket when I passed it this morning. It may have been an Oak Tree market Thriftway before all those others; Larry’s doesn’t go that far back and it can’t have been Larry’s that long or I would have seen it. Maybe Hop Thanh was brief; I only went there a couple times.
I went to the Asian Food Mart and it had galangal.
Canceled! Apparently this coming weekend’s Link service interruption has been canceled.
The release from ST says the work will be rescheduled at a later date, but it doesn’t say what the work is actually for.
I had heard that there was a “contingency plan to use the contingencies”. Basically if 2-Link tie-in work didn’t require extra weekend closures, then some general maintenance and service reliability work would be brought forward to use the scheduled contingency days.
The description of the work done during yesterday’s closure clearly fit into this category. It didn’t seem to be 2-Line related work at all. But again, I’m not sure what sort of work was planned for this coming weekend.
Now if ST can just get a dead tow test across I-90. Hopefully any day now.
I experienced the Link service disruption the previous weekend, when I attended a film noir festival. When we got to the Capitol Hill station, there were plenty of Sound Transit personnel who led us to the shuttle buses and smoothed out the process.
I got lucky with the return bus to Capitol Hill. I thought I would have to wait 15 minutes for the special shuttle buses, but as I walked up a Route 11 arrived, and I took that to get to the Capitol Hill station. Saved me some time and worry, as late public transit to the Eastside can get tricky.
My major issues with using an all-public-transit from Kirkland to Seattle on Link-disruption days were needing four-seat trips each way, and having to hang out at the Kirkland Transit Center for a half-hour at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. No problems with safety, but I could’ve saved 40 minutes if I used the South Kirkland Park-and-Ride, or 30 if I had called a Lyft from the transit center instead of waiting for a connecting bus.