After performing perfectly through the World Cup, Seattle light rail comes to a grinding halt
Timing, like in comedy and delayed light rail trains, is everything. On the day Sound Transit was set to release updated numbers from Monday’s record-setting train ridership, a loose latch on a hatch sent everything to a grinding halt. The transit agency said it is inspecting light rail cars to prevent another 15-hour shutdown.
Sound Transit said more 300,000 people crammed into light rail cars Monday when Seattle hosted a must-win World Cup match with Team USA.
The day capped off weeks of heavy ridership with hundreds of thousands of people in town for the World Cup.
“We believe that Monday, U.S. versus Belgium, was the number one day of ridership that we’ve ever had in our history as an agency,” David Jackson, a spokesperson for Sound Transit, told KUOW.
The previous record was set less than two weeks ago with 297,000 people during another U.S. match. Jackson said the agency deployed the most light rail cars on a single day ever, with 46 trains in service on match days.
Overall, June was the busiest month ever for Seattle light rail with 5.4 million rides, Jackson said.
RELATED: Pioneer Square is booming during World Cup. Seattle’s CID, not so much. Advocates demand city help
But early on Thursday morning, the agency said a latch came loose on a rooftop hatch of a light rail car between the University of Washington and U District stations. The hatch popped open, hit an overhead wire, then caused a power outage.
The outage caused a huge disruption, stopping both the 1 and 2 Lines between Capitol Hill and Northgate stations for over 15 hours. Both morning and evening commutes were upended for thousands of daily riders.
Long lines of people waited to board shuttle buses Sound Transit sent out to help alleviate the mess.
“It sucked,” said Natasha Varner. “I normally get notifications on my phone when there’s any disruption and that didn’t happen.”
Varner, who rides daily to Pioneer Square, got to the Capitol Hill station around 8:30 on Thursday, about two hours after the trains stopped.
“I showed up here and there was just a man here yelling at people to turn around,” she said. “Yeah, it was awful.”
RELATED: Heartbreak in Seattle as Team USA ends World Cup run
Sound Transit employees wore bright blue vests and directed people from the train platforms to the shuttle buses. The agency said it worked quickly to get the buses to the stations, though limited capacity on buses meant long wait times. Requiring passengers to move from the train platforms to a waiting shuttle bus is known as a “force transfer.”
“Given the heavy ridership for midweek commute, both morning and p.m.,” Jackson said, “we did OK. But it’s a lot of people.”
The light rail cars, which were last inspected “recently” were examined this morning before service, Jackson said. He said this is an isolated incident and they don’t expect it to happen again.
