Sounder pleases crowd

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 21, 2003

EVERETT — In what turned out to be a day of many firsts, Snohomish County’s "little blue and green engine that could" took 13-year-old Carl Manhardt to his first-ever Seattle Seahawks game Sunday.

The journey — Sounder’s first official commuter rail trip in Snohomish County — also just happened to be the Everett boy’s first-ever train ride.

Carl, his mother, Terry Manhardt, and grandfather, Donald Kane, were three of 710 people who packed onto Sound Transit’s special Seahawks train Sunday morning in route to see their team thump the Arizona Cardinals 28-10 on Sunday. Many spent the day shopping.

For young Carl, it was a trip of a lifetime to be in a train pulled by a front locomotive decorated with the Seahawk logo.

"When we heard about the train, it seemed appropriate to take our son to his maiden professional sports game on the maiden journey of the Sounder," said Terry Manhardt.

For his part, Carl said he had been on the monorail in Seattle but "I hadn’t been on a real train. I’m enjoying it."

Seahawks fans Tim Arnold and Darin Harris of Granite Falls were eager to take the train to the game.

"I turned in my $40 Amtrak tickets in turn for getting these for free," said Harris, who usually takes an Amtrak train to Seahawks games.

Sounder’s service, both for commuter trains and future Seahawks and Mariners games, will be $3 each way.

"We didn’t want to miss the hype," Arnold said. "I think this is fantastic."

The free trip to Seattle was so popular that some folks were invited to take overflow buses to the game.

"People were lined up here starting at 7:30 a.m.," said Lee Somerstein, a spokesman for Sound Transit, who said many of the prospective riders showed up at Everett Station before Sound Transit staff did.

The train left Everett Station after speeches from Sound Transit board members and others, including Bob Drewel, a board member who will step down at the end of the year.

"Isn’t this great," said Drewel, grinning ear to ear. "It’s hard to describe the sense of accomplishment. Everybody I’ve talked to has said ‘We’re sorry it’s taken so long, but we’re certainly glad it’s here.’"

Tough negotiations with Burlington Northern Santa Fe for access to the railroad’s main line to the East Coast delayed the project by three years and drove the overall cost up to $385 million.

But now that service has started, the mood was jubilant.

The actual commuting part of Sounder’s commuter rail service starts today with a morning train that will get workers to Seattle just before 8 a.m. and get them back home an hour after the end of their day. Service will be free for two weeks and will then bump up to $3 each way.

Sounder will start with one round-trip a day, and will gradually ramp up to four round-trip trains a day as improvements to the tracks are made.

Today’s train will stop in Everett and Edmonds. A stop in Mukilteo will be added once a station is built there, probably in 2007 or 2008.

Mark Garcia of Everett enjoyed taking Sounder on Sunday, and said he will take it whenever he needs to go to the city.

"I’m glad that we got the commuter train," Garcia said, adding that he’s a big fan of rail travel. "It’s long overdue."

Instead of going to the game, he went to do some shopping and sightseeing.

What did he buy?

It’s a secret that won’t come unwrapped until Christmas Day.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.

More than 700 people showed up to ride a special Seattle Seahawks Sounder train on Sunday, but today is the day commuters finally get to ride the much anticipated Sound Transit train to Seattle and back.

Depart Everett: 6:55 a.m.

Depart Edmonds: 7:21 a.m.

Arrive Seattle: 7:54 a.m.

Depart Seattle: 5:15 p.m.

Depart Edmonds: 5:42 p.m.

Arrive Everett: 6:14 p.m.

Tickets from Everett or Edmonds to Seattle are $3 for adults, $2.25 for kids 6 to 18 and $1.50 for seniors or disabled riders. Monthly passes will cost adults $108, kids $81 and $54 for seniors or the disabled. Call 888-889-6368 for more information.

Everett Station is located 3201 Smith Ave., Edmonds Station at 211 Railroad Ave., and King Street Station at 303 S. Jackson St. in Seattle. Mukilteo won’t have a station until 2007 or 2008.