Sound Transit is preparing to make emergency repairs to a stretch of 1 Line track near Westlake Station, a move that will require the closure of all stations between SoDo and Capitol Hill for the entirety of the upcoming summer weekend (June 21-22). A bus bridge will connect riders across downtown. However, due to the last-minute nature of the emergency closure, the agency plans to run buses at 30-to 60-minute intervals — much more anemic than the typical 10-minute light rail frequencies on weekends.
Trains north of Capitol Hill and south of SoDo will run every 15 minutes for the duration of the closure, reducing capacity on the rest of the 1 Line as well.
This news comes at an incredibly inopportune time for 1 Line riders. On top of a Club World Cup event at Lumen Field this Saturday and a Storm game on Sunday, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is closing two lanes of I-5 between South Lake Union and North Seattle for preservation work during the same weekend. Sound Transit had specifically avoided scheduling planned maintenance work during this month’s Club World Cup games, but conditions on the ground forced the agency’s hand.
“In a perfect world, we would be without problems. Unfortunately, routine rail inspection identified a section of rail in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel that was in need of repair,” a Sound Transit alert sent Monday evening noted. “The repair is necessary at this time to replace a section of rail near Westlake Station.”
A bus bridge arriving every 30-60 minutes clearly won’t be sufficient to handle the crowds that normally use 1 Line stations on summer weekends. On an average Saturday in May, nearly 27,000 riders boarded trains at the five impacted stations, and nearly 20,000 boarded on an average Sunday.
If replacement shuttles operate at such low frequencies, communication to direct riders to take advantage of alternative transit options through downtown will be an absolute necessity. Major delays appear almost certain for many riders.
This is not the first time that Sound Transit has needed to make last-minute rail repairs in the downtown tunnel in 2025. In April, the agency used a planned shutdown to repair a stretch of track between Pioneer Square and International District Chinatown Station. Rail repairs in the downtown tunnel, a facility that predates Sound Transit’s existence and was originally built to handle both trains and buses operating concurrently, is especially complicated work.
“Replacing the rails also means replacing everything under the rails – and ensuring everything is not just in working order but is improved for the future. In the case of this project, that means improving on our original design for insulating the rails that may also speed up future replacement projects,” Sound Transit spokesperson Henry Bendon wrote after that successful April closure. “At floor level, things look relatively straightforward – but underneath the roadbed is an intricate network of supporting infrastructure essential to safe train operations.”
Sound Transit also had to shutter an entire segment of the 2 Line in Redmond last week after hot weather caused an overhead wire system malfunction on the newest section of operational light rail track in the system. That repair work was completed over the weekend, restoring service.
These closures have come on top of planned closures to support work to expand the system, connecting the existing 1 Line to the forthcoming 2 Line across Lake Washington. Sound Transit is expecting to open the 2 Line extension across the lake in early 2026, barring further snags.
This weekend’s emergency service disruption is likely to be one of the most painful that the region has seen in recent years, given the concurrence with I-5 work and major sporting events. Those who can find alternative ways of getting around that don’t involve the 1 Line should consider doing so.
King County Metro offers a variety of bus alternatives to bridge the light rail gap between Downtown and Capitol Hill. The fastest among them is the RapidRide G Line, which opened last year adding rapid bus service on Madison Street. Meanwhile, Route 49 mirrors the 1 Line by connecting Westlake Station, Capitol Hill Station, and U District Station along Pine Street, Broadway, and NE Campus Parkway, and its 20-minute peak weekend frequencies will beat the bus bridge.
The First Hill Streetcar offers an alternate connection between International District/Chinatown Station and Capitol Hill Station. It offers 15-minute frequencies on Saturday, and slightly less frequent headways on Sunday.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.