Unexpectedly, Sounder commuter rail service has been operating on reduced schedules since Thursday, with no firm timeline for the full restoration of service yet announced. Sound Transit, which owns the service, has taken commuter rail vehicles out of service due to what it called a “maintenance lag” by its contractor for train upkeep, Amtrak.
The agency initially issued a notice last Wednesday night that all morning Sounder service would be canceled Thursday, but the agency quickly issued a revised notice that only some trips would be canceled until required inspections were addressed and that regular afternoon service would operate.
Nonetheless, by that afternoon some service remained canceled. About a quarter of all Sounder trips remain canceled this week, with the Sounder N Line, which runs from Seattle to Everett, most impacted. Service on the higher ridership Sounder S Line is less affected — though both lines have struggled to regain their pre-pandemic ridership levels.
On Sunday, Sound Transit spokesperson David Jackson described the situation as fluid and said that Amtrak was conducting the required maintenance and inspections of train cars over the weekend.
“The cars pulled from service lacked documentation of preventative maintenance that Amtrak provides under contract. We are investigating how this occurred,” Jackson said. “At no time were passengers or Sounder personnel in danger.”
The preventative maintenance that was not documented includes regular inspections of communications systems and train doors.
Initially, 16 Sounder cars were deemed out of compliance, but by Sunday afternoon the agency hoped that some cars were ready to be put back into service, Jackson said. Due to the remaining sidelined cars, however, some trains are operating with fewer cars than normal.
Sound Transit has published Sounder-specific information on alternative travel options. The agency has also received temporary authorization from the Washington State Department of Transport to extend the Rail Plus program to both Amtrak Cascades routes.
Normally, Rail Plus access to Cascades trains is only available along the Sounder N Line corridor and with a monthly ORCA pass, but all riders can use their ORCA cards for travel on Cascades trains that share stops with Sounder for now. That gives Sounder riders access to Cascades trains along the Sounder S Line corridor with stops at Tacoma Dome and Tukwila, in addition to Everett, Edmonds, and King Street in Seattle. Expanded Cascades access should help a fair number of Sounder riders, though Cascades services aren’t necessarily designed to support peak-hour travel patterns.
To avail of Rail Plus on Cascades for the duration of Sounder service impacts, riders need to check in with an Amtrak station agent prior to boarding a Cascades train, Jackson said.
Information about the service disruption has been a little patchy on the Sound Transit website over the course of the disruption, but the agency has posted revised schedules that include trip information for Amtrak Cascades along the Sounder N Line. Additionally, riders can refer to the Cascades schedule to time their trips south of Seattle.
For now, riders will have to contend with cancellation of four Sounder roundtrips, with two each on the Sounder N and S Lines. The S Line normally offers 13 daily weekday roundtrips and the N Line four, after a recent service restoration.
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.
