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(Image: Sound Transit)
That was a drag. Sound Transit says service has returned to normal on its light rail 1 Line meaning smoother rides between Capitol Hill and the route’s stations south of downtown.
CHS reported here on the January disruptions planned to allow crews to do much needed maintenance, repair, and upgrade work in the downtown transit tunnel. Sound Transit said the work included replacement of 500 feet of northbound track between University Street and Westlake “at the sharpest curve in the entire Link system.”
Those repairs and upgrades meant riders hoping to travel to and from Capitol Hill Station for destinations like airport either had to rely on shuttles or finding a Metro bus route alternative.
Along the way, additional service disruptions piled on including this ventilation failure at Westlake Station.
But the larger project was completed on schedule and Sound Transit says full service has restarted as planned.
“Beginning with the start of service Monday, Feb. 5, the 1 Line will return to normal operations as platform work in the downtown tunnel wraps up on schedule,” Sound Transit announced.
“I want to thank all of our passengers for their patience during this extended maintenance interruption,” Sound Transit Deputy CEO and Chief Delivery Officer Russ Arnold said in a statement. “We know that this hasn’t been easy for them, but the end result is a smoother ride and a more reliable system.”
Daily riders at Capitol Hill Station
Seattle’s light rail ridership has returned to pre-pandemic levels despite ongoing service challenges and disruptions due to construction required to expand the system. It is clear that growing the routes is going to take much longer than originally planned as Sound Transit’s push for a key expansion to Ballard is facing new battles over alignment and timelines. Delays for the planned lines serving the city’s northwest and West Seattle have grown and will cost billions more than originally planned. Meanwhile, costly construction snafus have delayed the opening of Judkins Park Station and the Eastside expansion line it is part of to the spring of 2025 some eight years after the project broke ground.
There are also growing questions about the existing line’s alignment through South Seattle where multiple incidents have resulted in deaths. Regularly occurring collisions also, of course, disrupt service on the line.
Sound Transit currently estimates a start of service for West Seattle in 2032 with Ballard coming online around 2039. The expansions were approved by voters in November 2016.
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I would just like to commend the Sound Transit team for making this very tough period of time more manageable by having ambassadors and security available during the peak times to micro manage the crowds. It was still a very rough few weeks, but the staff they had at the stations, especially Northgate and Westlake, made all the difference.
I agree! It was rough but the shuttles helped and everyone working them was helpful! Took light rail from SeaTac to the shuttle at SODO late one night and was relieved to see those managing the transfer & security too.
Yay!!!!!
Sound Transit hates its riders, as this three week period has clearly shown. They won’t get any commendations from me.
Have you been for a ride, I’m thinking no you have not.
I don’t know what the issue was but it seems to me that after NEW TRACK has replaced the old track that the ride should be smooth … It’s not and it’s gonna be more problems down the road those construction guys that took a right on that track after completion should be embarrassed of their work.