On Monday night, Sound Transit announced it was shutting down 2 Line light rail service on its new Redmond segment (which just opened May 10) to allow for overhead wire repairs. Until that work is complete and inspected, a bus bridge is replacing the light rail service, connecting to Overlake Station where the 2 Line continues to operate in the shortened segment to South Bellevue at 10-minute peak frequencies. That makes Overlake Village the new northern East Link light rail terminus.
“A bus bridge will be provided to connect passengers on to Redmond Technology, Marymoor Village, and Downtown Redmond stations,” Sound Transit said. “Passengers should plan for additional travel time or use alternate transit service. Passengers connecting from Downtown Redmond to Redmond Technology, Overlake, and beyond should especially consider the Rapid Ride B Line, which provides direct service between the stations.”
The Monday night press release was light on details, but today the agency posted a video to Instagram that explained the issue, which appears isolated to the new Redmond Link light rail segment. An excess of slack in the wire apparently caused the pantograph train connection to break loose on two occasions, which the agency said is likely tied to the heat wave. The loss of power associated with losing the pantograph connection forced those trains out of service, agency spokesperson Henry Bendon said.
“On Sunday, a train traveling through the area tripped something with its pantograph, causing the system to go power down,” Bendon said. “And on Monday, we had a larger issue where an unpowered wire made contact with a pantograph, removing it from the top of the train. In both cases, all passengers were able to get off the train at Redmond Technology…”
Heat wave tied to overhead wire issues
The agency is hoping to fix the issue relatively quickly, and a break in the hot weather may also help alleviate the issue, if the agency’s prognosis is correct.
“We do need crews to come out and make sure that everything is working as it’s supposed to a full investigation as they’re going to make sure we know what’s going on out here,” Bendon said. “But it likely has something to do with the fact that these past couple of days have been hotter than we’ve seen with the system operational, and we’re still understanding how the new wires expand and contract when faced with increased heat, busses are replacing trains for the closed two Line stations for the duration of the construction that includes the 2 Line shuttle and also the RapidRide B, which is a great option on the Eastside.”
However, with more summer heat surely on the way eventually, the agency will want to ensure 2 Line trains are up to the task of operating in warm weather. Thus far, June has been unseasonably warm, but forecasts project cooler temperatures for the rest of the week, with a return to the 60s expected by Thursday.
Seattle set a record high of 90 degrees on Sunday, and Monday was nearly as warm.
Sound Transit expects to re-open service on single track initially before the full restoration of service as both tracks are repaired and inspected. “As inspections are completed, tracks will be reopened, and bus bridges will be replaced with shuttle trains,” the agency said in its release. “Shuttle trains will single track until service can be fully restored.”
In fact, Bendon said that the agency expects to reopen the eastbound track today, since they’ve not had the same problems as the westbound track.
“The eastbound track should reopen for service, allowing us to return to a single-track operation through the impacted area, within the next hour. The repairs themselves are nearing completion and testing is beginning on the westbound track, but we won’t have an estimate on return to service for that side until later this evening,” Bendon told The Urbanist just as we were going to post at 3pm Tuesday.
Wednesday Update: On Wednesday, The Urbanist confirmed that Sound Transit is offering truncated single-track light rail service from Overlake to Downtown Redmond, replacing the bus bridge.
“[T]rains have been running across the full alignment since early this morning,” Bendon said Wednesday. “Now, trains are operating every 10 minutes from South Bellevue to Overlake, and a separate train is operating between Overlake Village and Downtown Redmond. Passengers must switch trains at Overlake – or board the Rapid Ride B – to continue their trips.”
Thursday Update: On Thursday, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine provided an update to the agency’s board, pledging the full restoration of Redmond Link service by the weekend. Constantine acknowledged that the Monday incident with the overhead catenary system (OCS) “damaged both the light rail vehicle and OCS” and was caused when the pantograph “hooked on a sagging wire, a guy wire sagging below the power line,” losing connection in a violent fashion.
“This is obviously a significant disruption for our riders, and teams have been working around the clock to safely restore full service to the 2 Line,” Constantine said. “While the cause of the OCS incident continues to be under investigation, significant wire damage has been identified along the westbound tracks east of the Redmond Tech Center, that is east of where this incident occurred. The current plan of action — in fact, the repairs have already been completed — was to complete this repair on this damaged portion of the wire, and then conduct extensive testing to make sure everything is good to go before we go back into service.”
Bendon told The Urbanist that Thursday’s OCS repair work entail again shutting down =Redmond light rail north of Overlake and implementing a bus bridge once more.
“Today at start of service, we pivoted back to a bus bridge between Overlake and Downtown Redmond,” Bendon said. “This change was made to allow us to safely replace the contact wire and conduct inspections and perform tests necessary to return to service. That replacement began last night and was completed earlier this morning, and we’re now in the process of testing and inspecting the full alignment. We anticipate return to full service on the entire 2 Line by this weekend. 2 Line shuttle buses are running every 10-15 minutes between Overlake and Downtown Redmond, and 2-Line trains are running every 12-15 minutes from South Bellevue to Overlake.”
Looking ahead
Even when service is fully restored, a slow order through the problematic stretch of tracks could be in store to prevent further power decoupling issues — at least until a deeper fix is found.
The unexpected closure is a growing pain for Sound Transit’s fast-growing network, which is expected to open another 16 miles of light rail in 2026 and reach 116 miles by the 2040s. Growth spurts rarely come without pains.
Sound Transit noted that riders can sign up for service alerts online.
Update: We updated the story at 3:35pm Tuesday with the additional imminent partial reopening news from Bendon. A further update was added at 2:45pm Wednesday to confirm the return of single-tracked light rail operations, and Thursday with Constantine’s comments.
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes, and a mass-timber building spree to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and loves to explore the city by foot and by bike.