A much-sought-after second Sounder train between Everett and Seattle will start rolling next September, Sound Transit announced Monday, Dec. 13.
Since service started about a year ago, the one-round-trip per-day commuter train has been popular among the few who can ride it, but roundly criticized because it offered no flexibility for commuters not working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shifts.
“Sounder is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I’m not riding it anymore,” said Wayne Radder of Everett. Radder rode the train for three months before finally giving in to his demanding work schedule. “I have clients, customers, deadlines and things like that. For me to ride both ways, I would need an earlier train in the morning and a later train in the afternoon.”
Radder said he’s happy that Sound Transit is getting a second train, but estimates he will be stuck riding the bus until the agency ramps up to four trains per day, something it isn’t scheduled to do until the end of 2007.
The schedule for the new train has not been decided.
Sound Transit officials recognize that one train offers little flexibility, but they say it’s about building service from the ground level. Because Sound Transit bought permanent access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s tracks, the commuter service that’s starting now will be in place forever.
“We look at this long term,” said Lee Somerstein, a Sound Transit spokesman. “We’re building a service.”
Sound Transit received the final permits it needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Ecology.
Getting those permits means Burlington Northern must allow the second train to start running within six months, part of a complicated agreement that has Sound Transit paying the railroad $258 million for access to its tracks.
There are similar agreements in place for the third and fourth trains that will come by 2007.
“(This is) a very significant milestone for commuter rail,” said Marty Minkoff, Sound Transit’s director of transportation services. He said the agency is planning for the second train to start running in September, because that’s when the agency normally makes service changes.
Minkoff said Sound Transit must still negotiate with Burlington Northern regarding what times the second train will run.
The current train arrives in Seattle at 7:39 a.m. and leaves Seattle to take commuters home at 5:13 p.m. Most people want a train that arrives in Seattle and leaves for Everett earlier. The train stops in Edmonds and will stop in Mukilteo once a station is built there.
Lukas Velush is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.
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