2024 will begin with a drag for light rail riders. Work to replace tracks in the downtown transit tunnel will mean interrupted service between Capitol Hill Station and SODO for a few weeks to start the new year, Sound Transit says.

The work schedule and disruptions will vary depending on what day of the week you are riding:

On weekends, 1 Line trains will run every 10-15 minutes between Northgate–Capitol Hill, and between SODO–Angle Lake. Between Capitol Hill–SODO, there will be no 1 Line service, and a Link shuttle will serve all closed stations every 10-15 minutes.

On weekdays, trains will depart Northgate and Angle Lake stations every 13-15 minutes. Only half of these trains will serve downtown Seattle, with trains every 26-30 minutes at Capitol Hill, Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and Int’l District/Chinatown stations. Every other train from Northgate will terminate at UW Station, and every other train from Angle Lake will terminate at Stadium. This preserves as much service as possible outside the downtown Seattle work area.

“Stay alert to where your train is going!,” Sound Transit advises. “Look at the signs on the front and sides of the train to ensure your train will serve your destination.”

Sound Transit says the work will include replacement of 500 feet of northbound track between University Street and Westlake “at the sharpest curve in the entire Link system.”

“These rails are worn and have made for a bumpy ride for passengers for years,” Sound Transit says. “Without replacement, the worn rails will eventually become a safety hazard.”

Crews will also replace 58 “bond boxes,” which provide signal connections to the tracks.

The agency says the age of Seattle’s transit system is to blame for the major disruptions:

The four downtown Seattle stations — Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and Int’l Dist./Chinatown — are nearly 20 years older than the Link system itself. They opened for bus operations in 1990, and they were built to accommodate both buses and trains at the same time.

“This legacy of bus operations required design decisions that continue to make repairs to these stations much more disruptive than our more recently built stations,” Sound Transit says, calling the work “a major disruption for our passengers.”

ST says the work was scheduled “during the time of year when our ridership is at its lowest” and is part of preparations for adding thousands of more riders when Lynnwood Link opens later in 2024.

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