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Sounder South Capacity Expansion

What we heard during winter outreach

Publish Date

In January, Sound Transit released the Draft Strategic Development and Implementation Plan, which outlined an approach to delivering the Sounder South Capacity Expansion.

The draft plan described two proposed strategies to expand capacity in response to expected ridership growth: 1) running longer trains and 2) potentially adding weekday trips, pending negotiations with BNSF Railway. In addition, Sound Transit will work with cities served by Sounder South and other partners to build targeted access improvements to provide convenient, safe access for customers to the platforms, including at King Street Station.

Sound Transit hosted an online open house from Jan. 23 – Feb. 6, 2020, to seek public feedback on the draft plan. Over 3,600 people visited the online open house, with more than 600 people completing the survey to share their feedback. Thank you for your comments and questions!

Themes from the feedback include:

  • Support for longer trains. Many comments noted crowded train and platform conditions today. Some questioned why this can’t be implemented sooner. 
  • Support for additional weekday trips. Many comments suggested specific time periods for additional trips, including the evening, peak commute periods, and other times. However, BNSF has indicated they do not support an evening passenger trip on their tracks. Read more in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the outreach summary. 

We heard questions from many of you on topics including parking, Sounder reliability, bus service and more. For responses to these and other topics, please view the Frequently Asked Questions section of the outreach summary. 

Read more in the full outreach summary.
 

Next Steps for Sounder South Capacity Expansion

Sound Transit has finalized the Strategic Development and Implementation Plan, and we plan to roll out capacity improvements over time, subject to agreement with BNSF. Work will begin soon on development of the program elements, such as longer trains and platform extensions, and we will begin BNSF negotiations for more trips. The potential timeline and next steps for each program element include:

  • Purchasing rail cars: Sound Transit has begun the process to purchase cars for longer trains. 
  • Platform extensions: engineering and environmental review to extend platforms at every station is expected to begin later this year. 
  • BNSF negotiations: expected to take place through 2021. 
  • King Street Station: study of platform level improvements will begin later this year. 
  • Other station access improvements: timing is to be determined. 

In addition, we anticipate beginning planning for access improvements at South Tacoma and Lakewood stations this spring.

Sound Transit COVID-19 update

As our region responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sound Transit has reduced Sounder, Link and some ST Express service until further notice. This includes suspending five of the thirteen Sounder South roundtrips. View the Sounder South reduced schedule for more details or visit our Reduced Service page for details on other routes. 

Ridership has dropped dramatically since the emergence of COVID-19, as riders have done the right thing by staying home as much as possible. These service reductions will keep our system strong and resilient, ready to bounce back once the governor indicates it is safe to ease social and business restrictions. Please note that this is an evolving situation which may change at any time. Sign up for rider alerts to receive the latest updates for your route.

Read our Platform blog post for the latest information on how Sound Transit is responding to heightened COVID-19 concerns.