Sound Transit’s Link light-rail service to be disrupted for three weeks for service improvements

Sound Transit’s Link light-rail service will be disrupted for three weeks starting Jan. 13, as the agency undertakes several projects to improve service. 

On weekdays, 1 Line trains will run only every 26 minutes between Northgate and Angle Lake. Additional weekday trains will run between Northgate–University of Washington and between Stadium–Angle Lake, for combined service every 13 minutes in the areas. 

On weekends. trains will run every 15 minutes between Northgate–Capitol Hill and between SODO–Angle Lake. Bus shuttles every 10 to 15 minutes will replace trains between Capitol Hill–SODO and serve all closed stations.  

During weekdays, half of the trains will serve all stations along the 1 Line while the other half will terminate at either University of Washington or Stadium stations. 

Sound Transit says the work is essential to improve the state of the system and prepare for the growth that is coming later this year and beyond. By scheduling the projects during the time of year when ridership is at its lowest, the hope is to limit impact on riders. Staff will be at stations throughout the disruption to answer questions and help passengers get to their destinations. 

Making necessary repairs 

Sound Transit notes 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. The stations opened for bus operations in 1990 and were built to accommodate both buses and trains at the same time. 

The agency says the legacy of bus operations required design decisions that continue to make repairs to the stations much more disruptive than the more recently built stations, noting that because buses and trains ran together in the tunnel between 2009 and 2019, the agency embedded the rails into the tunnel roadway, rather than on top, as they are in all our other tunnel stations. As a result, replacing any rails in those stations requires substantial demolition and rebuilding work.  

During this disruption, Sound Transit will be completing two major projects at the same time:  

• Replacing 500 feet of northbound track between University Street and Westlake at the sharpest curve in the entire Link system. Sound Transit says the rails are worn and have made for a bumpy ride for passengers for years. Without replacement, the worn rails will eventually become a safety hazard. 
• Replacing 58 “bond boxes,” which provide signal connections to the tracks. All of the bond boxes are located in between the rails and were progressively damaged by buses between 2009 and 2019, leading to occasional signal failures and train delays. Replacing the bond boxes requires no trains run through those sections until replacement is complete.