SEATTLE — Growing reliability issues with the expanding Link light rail system have led Sound Transit CEO Goran Sparrman to declare “the existence of an emergency” in the system, which will allow the agency to move more quickly to address operational issues.
The Seattle Times reports the emergency declaration made on Jan. 21 is a prelude to a $1.5 million no-bid work order with consultant HNTB to “provide technical and strategic advisory services” for planning and design of improvements to modernize the light rail network and increase its reliability.
An independent report on power-supply issues is due in March.
Through the first 11 months of 2024, the light-rail system saw tracks blocked or availability reduced for 376 hours, or 6% of the time. The issue comes at a time that ridership has grown by 25%, to about 100,000 per weekday, since the opening of the Link extension to Lynwood in August [see “Sound Transit opens latest …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 31, 2024]. Sound Transit officials say the Link network is the country’s fourth busiest light rail system.
— Updated Jan. 27 at 7:20 a.m. with new photograph.
For the record: the photo above is NOT a Link light rail train. It is a Sound Transit streetcar in Tacoma. The article describes issues on Link light rail, not the streetcar line.
Totally correct. That is the streetcar car line expansion completed last year to the Hilltop area of Tacoma. I am unimpressed with the way Sound Transit has handled recent expansions. The biggest issue that comes to mind is the fiasco along I-90 across Lake Washington, connecting to the Bellevue/ Redmond line. That got delayed by about a year due to problems with I believe was the ties. Maintenance should always be paramount to any system. Deferred maintenance ALWAYS catches up with you. Too many examples to quote but MBTA, MILW, and CRI&P come right to top of mind. Phillip Eng from MBTA got it nearly all corrected since he came on board.
Bringing the DEI issue is unnecessary. The problem is hiring CEOs who think an MBA is all that is needed to effectively “manage” anything. Another problem is politicians that leap at the latest fancy technology because it seems cool. It makes for a great photo-op. Any critics are dismissed as stuck in a previous century.
Replace DEI with MBA at your leisure. Having lived in Seattle for several years, and having read the board meeting minutes since the Talgo disaster, it doesn’t change my conclusions.
Remember the board had a massive turnover after the ‘perfect’ CEO was hired for large coin, just to offer her resignation shortly after and they paid her a large settlement on the way out. It was a clear case of best intentions gone sideways.
ST hired a safety officer who hadn’t the faintest clue of what the job entailed other than filling out forms for government compliance. He was reassigned after the Talgo disaster.
All rails under the tunnel now, but symbolic of good intentions getting ahead of good leadership.
If you tap on the link to the Seattle Times it seems the problems are already know. So why spend 1.5 million on consultants?
Knowing what the issues are is different than knowing how to solve it, (it seems.)
This is what happens when the board keeps hiring CEO’s that are more aligned to equity and inclusiveness, than anyone with real transit operations background.
While the bonds pay for the new stuff, allowing unlimited free rides for so long is starving the older system of maintenance to keep the costs down.
The items identified are all straight forward MOW items and should have been planned for in their annual maintenance budget.
By kicking the can down the road until it is untenable, they can simply declare an emergency and skip the bidding rules. It is a cynical attempt by ST to get their customers to perk up more dough for capital items. In other words, its totally political.