Two 20-year-old bolts snapping off a track switch shut down light rail through downtown Seattle for more than 14 hours on Aug. 2, stranding riders who couldn't find shuttle buses and prompting a Sound Transit board member to demand better communication during emergencies.
The outage blocked all Link service between Capitol Hill and SODO, cutting off downtown stations that riders from Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia use to transfer at Westlake.
Sound Transit ran shuttle buses from Capitol Hill, SODO and Judkins Park, but passengers reported confusion about where to find them.
The empty train derailed at 11:58 p.m. on Aug. 1, at the International District/Chinatown station while being repositioned to handle crowds leaving an Ed Sheeran concert at Lumen Field. No one was injured. The lead railcar veered several yards across the concrete track bed.
Service on the 1 Line between Capitol Hill and SODO and the 2 Line between Capitol Hill and Judkins Park stayed down until 2:15 p.m. Sunday. One rider at Capitol Hill Station ended up on a bus to the International District when she was trying to reach the University District, the Seattle Times reported.
Two bolts, 20 years old
Sound Transit Deputy CEO Ed Cobean told the agency's Rider Experience and Operations Committee on Aug. 6 that two bolts holding a curved section of track leading to a pocket track sheared off, misaligning the rail, The Urbanist reported. The bolts were original construction hardware installed roughly 20 years ago.
"There is only one other switch in our system — this is special track work — that has anything that resembles it," Cobean said at the committee meeting. "So, we've already done a full inspection on the other switch. Have put the existing switch bolts back into place. It's been repaired."
The agency sent the failed bolts for metallurgy testing and is inspecting switches system-wide. Spokesperson Henry Bendon said Sound Transit has "no reason to believe this will happen again."
It was only the second derailment to disrupt passenger service since Link light rail launched in 2009.
Board member pushes for better alerts
King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, who sits on the Sound Transit Board, pressed CEO Dow Constantine at the same Aug. 6 meeting, calling a derailment "a life-threatening situation" and saying she received "a whole bunch of feedback" from constituents who couldn't locate shuttle buses during the outage.
Balducci called for upgraded standards: immediate delay announcements, estimated duration, cause when known and clear directions to bus bridges.
Constantine acknowledged the agency has "opportunities to learn more and improve."
Pattern of disruptions
The derailment capped a string of service problems. A roof hatch malfunction on July 9 took out an overhead wire between UW and U District stations, causing a 15-hour outage. Brake issues hit on July 10 and July 20. A power outage on July 21 suspended service between Beacon Hill and Tukwila International Blvd stations.
Sound Transit temporarily suspended its monthly maintenance program during the World Cup to maximize capacity. The agency says World Cup wear and tear did not cause any of the recent failures.
A separate track switch issue near Rainier Beach on Aug. 10 initially alarmed riders but did not result in a derailment; service resumed within about two hours.
What's next
Sound Transit's Board of Directors meets Thursday, Aug. 27. The agency is developing a 2027 service plan that could add maintenance windows by shortening service hours at certain times.
The metallurgy results on the failed bolts have not been released, and Sound Transit has not explained how the bolts sheared without its track inspection team catching the problem beforehand.
