Seattle: Sound Transit needs more railcars soon, so it won't run out of room for riders

[marmar]

Oct. 30—The Sound Transit board needs to order 10 light-rail vehicles by November, or risk running out of passenger space in a few years.

Transit staff say that Siemens USA, which built the Seattle- Bellevue area's newest railcar fleet, has only a short window in which managers can get parts from today's tight supply chain, and assemble more Sound Transit railcars at its Sacramento, Calif., factory by 2027. Costs should range between $60 million and $100 million, says agency CEO Julie Timm.

Sound Transit ordered 152 Siemens S70 vehicles in 2016-17, mainly to stock its Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond and Federal Way extensions, scheduled to open in 2024-26. Some already operate through Seattle.

Those aren't considered enough anymore, because slow conditions on the Seattle- SeaTac line are hamstringing train frequency, and therefore the route's capacity to carry travelers. ...............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/vehicles/news/53076784/wa-sound-transit-needs-more-railcars-soon-so-it-wont-run-out-of-room-for-riders

[LisaM]

1. They really shouldn't have stripped so many bus routes.

Riding Sound Transit has been a consistently bad experience for me. My former 15 minute commute is now 40 minutes. When track maintenance is required, which seems to be often, passengers are offloaded or service is reduced. The trains don't have the same seating capacity as buses. Many trips require a transfer where you could previously just take one bus, and the stops are not near where people live

They could solve this problem for now by working with Metro to restore certain routes like the 41, but they won't.