SEATTLE — Sound Transit’s East Link light rail line to Redmond, Wash. — which had been slated to open next year — may not be fully completed until 2025. The transit agency will consider opening a portion of the line in 2024 at an upcoming board meeting.
But the delay in opening the East Link line will also impact other light rail projects in progress, because it isolates a maintenance facility meant to help support the expanded light rail system.
The website MyNorthwest.com reports the delays to the 14-mile, 10-station extension reflect issues ranging from pandemic effects on the labor market and supply chain to a regional concrete strike to construction issues that will require four miles of concrete track supports to be replaced [see “Construction delays push back opening …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 22, 2022].
The update on delays to the East Link project comes as Sound Transit also announced new delays to light rail construction in Tacoma [see “Opening of Tacoma light rail project to be delayed,” News Wire, Dec. 9, 2022].
In a blog post addressing both projects, Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm said it might be possible to open an “East Link Starter Line” between the South Bellevue and Redmond Technology stations, a prospect to be considered by the agency’s board in January.
She also said the delay means other portions of the light rail system won’t have access to the planned Operation and Maintenance Facility East in Bellevue, which creates equipment shortages for other projects, since the existing maintenance facility in Seattle doesn’t have space to maintain and store the necessary trainsets.
As a result, the other two expansion projects underway — to Lynnwood and Federal Way — could also be delayed, or see their opening days reshuffled.
“In January, Sound Transit staff will provide another update to the Board, and we’ll seek their direction on project sequencing, including whether to advance the East Link Starter Line scenario,” Timm wrote. “… In the meantime, we’ll also be collaborating with our local partners to address the hiring challenges that represent the biggest current risk to our project openings and the sequencing challenges that may impact all of our riders and projects planned over the next few years.”
The Sound Transit folks are a bit opaque about the issues across the I-90 floating bridge when proposing a Redmond to Bellevue start instead of all the way to Seattle, but I can’t help but wonder if the ‘cutting edge engineering’ of running tracks and catenary over a floating bridge is causing some of the issues that need to be fixed. I was always leery of the claims that they solved all the issues with doing this before they ever started construction.
A possible solution may be that present maintenance facility will have to park extra cars on that route mainline? Caes tht need more time for say long time work may have to be trucked? Probably purchase a purpose built trailer maybe a roll on roll off trailer.