Sound Transit leaders, like much of the public, are sick and tired of seeing abandoned tracks and stations in Bellevue and Redmond. So they’re aiming to open an Eastside-exclusive starter line in March.
The train will make eight stops between Redmond Technology Station, adjacent to Microsoft’s campus, and South Bellevue Station, which features a new 1,500-car Park and Ride garage.
This is the start of light rail service on the East Side, arriving as a full extension of Sound Transit, but has been burdened by massive construction delays on the former express lanes of Interstate 90. Trains cannot cross Lake Washington between Bellevue, Mercer Island, and Mercer Island. Seattle’s International District/Chinatown Station through 2025.
Contractors are rebuilding more than 5,000 faulty concrete sleepers, known as plinths, on a section of Interstate 90. The 14-mile long, $3.7 billion line, approved by voters in 2008, was targeted for 2020 by ballot criteria, but lost three years in a planning dispute at Bellevue. If the construction went smoothly, it was scheduled to open last month.
Steering Committee of Sound Transit It voted Thursday to advance $37 million for 2024 Starter Line operations, following a $6 million spending on research, training and signal revisions. A full-speed practice trip was scheduled to begin in November.
Passengers can expect service on the new line every 10 minutes for 16 hours a day, with trains carrying a total of 400 passengers in two carriages. There are still not enough workers and cars to run a long train, and this first leg probably won’t be full anyway.
An estimated 6,000 passengers per day are expected to use the Eastside Light Rail next year. Commuters will be able to travel between Redmond Technology Station and Bellevue Downtown Station in 10 minutes.
Former Bellevue mayor John Cherminiak said he remembered discussing sound transit at the first city council meeting in 2003. “That was him 20 years ago. The rails are installed and ready to go. Let’s put the trains on the tracks and move the Eastlink starter line,” he testified. “Passenger numbers will increase in preparation for when all lines open.”
The political push for a starter line began last summer, led by Claudia Balducci, a member of the Metropolitan King County Council and transportation commissioner in Bellevue. King County Transportation Commissioner Dow Constantine and Kenmore City Councilman David Baker have been particularly supportive, she said.
“I can’t remember a time when a government agency adapted as swiftly and thoroughly as this incident,” Balducci said. “I’m really looking forward to taking the train in East King County.”
March 2024 is still a target, not a certainty.
Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm said in a memo that the Federal Transit Authority could not complete the necessary safety and readiness reviews before the winter, or there were too few staff to complete the work. said there was a risk of either Meanwhile, King County Metro, which operates the light rail system, has 82% of its 116 sales positions filled, she reported.
If all goes according to plan, service between Northgate and Lynnwood will begin in six months, following the opening of Bellevue. The Lynnwood Line was initially used to increase capacity until more vehicles arrived from Siemens in Sacramento, Calif., until Interstate 90 opened to allow trains to move between the new Bellevue Maintenance Depot and Seattle. It was planned to operate with a reduced number of
Three members of the Snohomish County Transportation Board had previously worried that the Bellevue Line would suck people and time away from Lynnwood’s immediate grand opening, but the dispute appears to have been settled, with the fall 2024 grand opening. It may have been only three months since it opened. Target set for July 2024 at the start of construction.
Four new train stops on the Lynnwood Line (Shoreline South/148, Shoreline North/185, Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood City Center stations within sight of Interstate 5) is expected to attract 25,000 to 34,000 passengers per day next year, Tim reported. Ultimately, the East Side train will turn north after crossing Lake Washington, and will double service to Lynnwood via downtown Seattle and the University District. A future station is being built at 130th Street Northeast in Seattle.
Everett Mayor Kathy Franklin noted that the Lynnwood Line carried eight times as many passengers as the original East Side section. The board passed an amendment that promises to provide extra buses in case trains in Snohomish County and North Seattle become overcrowded.
Two more Eastside stations are scheduled to open in spring 2025, in Marymoor Park and downtown Redmond.
The unfinished South Corridor from Angle Lake to Federal Way is expected to be open until 2026. It has been slowed down mainly by unforeseen wetland soils, forcing builders to design long-span bridges in problem areas.
Sound Transit is currently gearing up to celebrate the much-anticipated extension of the T-Line streetcar line, scheduled to open on September 16th, that will meander from downtown Tacoma to the stadium and Hilltop districts.