SEATTLE – All aboard!
Step right up and take what on Monday will be the most scenic, hands-free commute in the state.
Seven years and $385 million later, Sound Transit on Wednesday delivered on its promise to deliver Sounder commuter rail to Everett, Edmonds and eventually Mukilteo.
For just $3 – $2.25 for kids, $1.50 for seniors – you can replace your I-5 workday grind to Seattle with a Sounder ride that takes in sweeping views of Puget Sound.
Bus service and road improvements are nice, but Snohomish County’s support of Sound Transit has always hinged on getting commuter rail service that’s dependable and on time.
“The sense of excitement, the sense of anticipation is hard to measure,” Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel said.
Sounder service will start Sunday with a special train to take football fans to watch the Seattle Seahawks host the Arizona Cardinals. Christmas shoppers also are welcome. The train will stop at Everett and Edmonds stations.
Regular daily service will start Monday with one train going south in the morning and one coming back in the evening.
A jubilant Sound Transit Board approved eight agreements at a special meeting Wednesday allowing Sounder service to start from Everett to Seattle, and from Tacoma south to Lakewood.
The routes are additions to the Sounder’s existing runs between Tacoma and Seattle.
Snohomish County’s board members were particularly excited to be able to make the announcement the day after Boeing announced it will build the 7E7 in Everett.
“Together, (the two announcements) are a huge boost to the community of Everett and all of Snohomish County,” said Mark Olson, a Sound Transit board member and Everett city councilman. “It’s been an exciting 24 hours for the people in (Everett) and the county.”
Drewel, Olson and other Sound Transit officials said the negotiations with Burlington Northern Santa Fe were difficult but fair. That’s the main reason Sounder service is more than three years late and the bill is now $385 million, more than double the original $177 million estimate.
Getting access to the north stretch of rail was much more difficult than getting access to the railway’s southern tracks from Seattle to Tacoma. That’s because the north rail is Burlington Northern’s main route to the east coast.
Sound Transit will write Burlington Northern four checks totaling $258 million by 2007, $8 million more than the two agencies agreed upon May. The money will go toward track improvements that will allow for eight trains per day while not affecting freight service.
Instead of the 100-year lease Sound Transit signed last May, the transit agency now has a perpetual right to Burlington Northern tracks from Everett to Seattle, something board members said is well worth paying $8 million extra.
For Dave Earling, a Sound Transit board member from Edmonds, paying a little more won’t matter when weighed against providing the region with a permanent mass transit option that takes cars off I-5.
“I know when my grandchildren get on (the train) 15 years from now, they’re not going to ask how much it cost,” Earling said.
For its part, the railroad is pleased to be a part of the region’s plans to ease congestion, said spokesman Gus Melonas.
“BNSF recognized the Seattle area’s need to include a commuter rail system in their transportation network, and we’re willing to partner with Sound Transit on (its commuter rail) program,” Melonas said. “We saw the success of our Tacoma to Seattle service and are please to now accommodate the expansion of service north and south.”
Service to Snohomish County will start with one roundtrip train per weekday, said Marty Minkoff, Sounder director.
A second roundtrip train will likely start in December 2004, while a third and fourth are scheduled to start rolling by 2007. All the trains will go south with morning rush hour and return to Everett in the late afternoon.
Minkoff said the schedules have not been set for the final three trains, but said they will all fall within a three-hour window that matches rush hour traffic.
The trains will have five roomy double-deck cars with couches and tables. Each train will be able to carry 700 people, a capacity number that will grow to 2,800 when all four trains come on line.
Officials from Everett and Edmonds are already looking forward to a surge in development they hope will pop up around their respective stations.
A third stop is planned for Mukilteo, but construction on that station is not expected to start until 2007 because a massive waterfront redevelopment plan has left a decision on where to locate the station in flux.
“There is already a development proposal for around (Everett) Station,” Olson said. “It’s coming to the city in January.”
Edmonds is also gearing up for its new station. The city will start with a temporary platform, and will see construction on a permanent station start at the end of next year.
“This type of project is an economic stimulus for any community that wants to build around it,” Earling said.
Minkoff said the first two weeks of service will be free so potential riders can see if it fits their schedule.
For those eight-to-fivers who choose to try the train, they will be treated to a 32-mile, hourlong (about a half-hour from Edmonds) journey along the edge of Puget Sound.
For that whole time, they will get sweeping views of the Olympic Mountains, Whidbey Island, Mt. Baker, the occasional gorgeous sunset and a whole variety of wildlife, including, if they’re lucky, the rare orca.
Try that on I-5.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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