Link light rail service to be disrupted through Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel for next 2 weeks

SEATTLE — Link light rail service through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel will be disrupted for the next two weeks due to damage caused by construction at the Westlake station last week, Sound Transit said Thursday.

During the service disruption, southbound passengers will need to transfer at Capitol Hill to another train to continue their trips, and northbound passengers will need to transfer at Stadium station.

Trains through the tunnel will run every 32 minutes in each direction. Trains between Northgate and Capitol Hill and between Stadium and Angle Lake will run every 15 minutes.

Since trains will be single-tracking through the tunnel, the northbound platforms at Westlake, University Street, Pioneer Square, and International District stations are closed. The southbound platforms will remain open for trains traveling in either direction.

“During this time, passengers should pay extra attention while they travel so they don’t get on the train going in the wrong direction and don’t stay on the train when they need to transfer,” Sound Transit said in a news release Thursday. “Sound Transit personnel will be at affected stations tomorrow to assist passengers. As the situation evolves, Sound Transit will be working to provide the most service possible given constraints.”

Sound Transit said the closure is needed so it can investigate damage caused last Tuesday when a construction crew that was trying to remove a clock at street level broke through the roof of the tunnel. No one was injured, but further examination showed the damage was worse than originally thought.

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