Better late than never, Sounder is ready to roll

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 18, 2003

More than three years late and — gulp — $200 million over budget, commuter rail finally is ready to serve Snohomish County. And starting with just one round trip per day between Everett and Seattle, the four-year phase-in to four daily round-trips makes this anything but rapid transit.

Despite all that, the announcement that Sounder service from Everett to Seattle, with a stop in Edmonds, will start next week was good news. The delays and overruns came because of a hard business reality: the rail line is of tremendous value to its owner, Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, and the railroad played hardball at the negotiating table.

In the end, Sound Transit will pay BNSF $258 million, which will fund track improvements to allow commuter and lucrative freight service to coexist and give Sound Transit rights to the line essentially forever. Forever is a long time to amortize an expenditure.

The payoff could be considerable. When four trains are running each direction during rush hour in 2007, they could carry up to 5,600 people — more if demand requires adding up to two more cars per train. That would get a lot of single-occupant gas-burners off the freeways. And improvements in bus service, including the addition of time-saving transit ramps off I-5 in south Snohomish County, will make that form of transit more attractive, too. As the economy rebounds and more people get back to work, alternatives to the daily drive — make that the daily crawl — will look better and better.

Now commuters need to get on board. Sound Transit is offering a special inaugural Sounder run to Sunday’s Seattle Seahawks game, leaving Everett Station at 11:15 a.m. and Edmonds at 11:42 a.m. The return train leaves Seattle’s King Street Station at 5 p.m. Beginning Monday, regular weekday service begins, and everyone rides free for the first two weeks — a great way to take a test run. After that, one-way fares are $3 for adults, $2.25 for kids 6-18 and $1.50 for seniors and disabled passengers.

Expensive as it turned out to be, commuter rail is an important piece of the region’s transportation system. The geography of Puget Sound limits the number of transit corridors available, and this one couldn’t be passed up.

If Sounder service is used to its full potential, it will have been worth the price.