Mudslide closes railroad tracks
Published 10:36 pm Saturday, January 16, 2010
SEATTLE — Freight trains are moving again after a mudslide blocked BNSF Railway’s double mainline tracks Saturday morning south of Everett.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide happened at 8 a.m. between Mukilteo and Howarth Park. He says a rain-saturated slope gave way after four days of heavy rainfall from a tropical storm in the Puget Sound.
BNSF crews responded and had both tracks reopened by 11:30 a.m. Melonas says all freight traffic is moving again.
But he says BNSF engineering crews have decided to keep Amtrak passenger operations closed until 8 a.m. Monday, for safety reasons.
He says inspectors want to make sure the area’s slopes have solidified before passenger service resumes.
Sound Transit reports that Sounder train service may also be interupted between Everett and Seattle.
