Project update: Operations and Maintenance Facility South, 3/27/2019
Thanks to everyone who attended our open houses for the Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) South project on March 12 and March 20. If you haven’t provided your feedback on potential sites for the OMF South yet, you can comment through April 1:
- Comment online: OMFSouth.participate.online
- Email: OMFSouthScoping@soundtransit.org
- Mail: Sound Transit, Environmental Planner Hussein Rehmat, 401 S. Jackson Street, Seattle, WA 98104
- Leave a voicemail: (206) 398-5453
Your input will help us place a new facility in the South Sound
To have a congestion-free regional light rail system, Sound Transit needs a place to clean, store and maintain trains to support future extensions, including the Federal Way Link Extension (FWLE) and Tacoma Dome Link Extension (TDLE). We want your feedback on potential sites for our Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF) South, scheduled to open by 2026. Your input during this public comment or “scoping” period will help the Sound Transit Board determine which sites to study in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
What is an Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF)?
An OMF is where trains go for cleaning, storage and maintenance and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Light rail can’t operate effectively in the South Sound without an additional OMF in South King County. Finding sites is challenging, as Sound Transit requires at least 30 relatively flat acres (for reference, 1 football field is 1.3 acres) that are near an operating light rail line, with specific site conditions often pushing the acreage requirement higher.
One OMF currently exists in Seattle, and another facility is under construction in Bellevue. To accommodate additional vehicles for the future 116-mile voter-approved regional light rail system, the system requires an additional OMF in the South Sound and one in Sound Transit’s North Corridor.