MudlideScenic008-600x450.jpg
The state and BNSF hope a $16 million federal grant will help ease mudslides along the train tracks between Everett and Seattle. (WSDOT image)

Temporary fix but no solution in sight for Sounder's mudslide disruptions

BY Josh Kerns  on December 3, 2012 @ 10:43 am (Updated: 11:46 am - 12/3/12 )

With Sound Transit and Amtrak forced to cancel service again between Seattle and Everett because of mudslides, state officials say they're doing all they can to slow the frequent slides.

Despite millions of dollars, they admit there's only so much they can do.

The latest slide comes just two weeks after mudslides covered the tracks in a number of places, halting passenger service for the entire Thanksgiving week.

The problem is both the steep hillsides and the stormwater runoff pouring down from the areas above, says Ron Pate, Cascades Operations Manager with the Washington Department of Transportation.

The Federal Railroad Administration has kicked in $16 million for the Washington State Department of Transportation and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, owner of the tracks, to help brace the slopes.

"It's not going to fix the whole slide problem, but what we're going to target is more fence catchments of slides to prevent it from ending up on the tracks," Pate says.

The money will also be used to improve storm water containment to help catch and divert some of the runoff pouring from the hillsides above.

"We think that by controlling that storm water and having better drainage facilities that should improve it significantly."

The state and BNSF spent the summer clearing culverts and drains, removing brush and debris, building new ditches and reshaping some of the hillsides, Pate says.

But even with all those measures, they'll never be able to completely prevent slides and closures because the hillsides are too steep and at times, there's simply too much water.

"I wouldn't say that we can prevent them 100 percent all the time. Just like anywhere in the United States where you have topography like this, you have slides."

That's little comfort to frustrated passengers and both Amtrak and Sound Transit, which are forced to bus riders around the slides whenever the tracks are closed.

"It's frustrating for us too when we have to go into these backup plans," says Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray. "We do the best we can and we appreciate our riders patience as we get through these winter months here."

Sound Transit has had to cancel more than 200 trips because of slides since service started in 2003, Gray says. The agency operates eight Sounder trains weekdays on the line, four each way. Amtrak runs six trains everyday, three each way, according to The Everett Herald.

Pate says while preliminary engineering work is now underway, it will be the summer of 2014 at the earliest before actual work on the hillsides can begin. That means more closures are likely whenever there is heavy rain over the next few years.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (11)


  • Add A Comment

  • calapete wrote...
    I 90 for example
    December 3, 2012 12:04 pm
    All that work being done over the pass, in the slide areas, they are simply removing the hill.

    Do whatever you have to do to keep the railway open.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moondoggie wrote...
    The Feds will kick in 16 million
    December 3, 2012 12:16 pm
    Why should a woman, widowed with three kids to feed, living in Kansas have to pay so that a rich businessman, living in Everett, gets to drink his latte on the train rather than ride the bus?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ahblid wrote...
    You're Going to Pay No Matter What
    December 3, 2012 5:44 pm
    Moondoggie, Whether he drives, takes a bus, or gets on a train your taxes will go to help that businessman no matter what. And the taxes from everyone go into highways all over this country, including the ones by you. However, since you are going to pay no matter what, it's actually in your best interests for that businessman to ride the train. On average, according to the National Transit Database, in 2011 it costs transit agencies 40 cents per passenger mile to move people by commuter train. Put the people on a bus and it costs the agencies 90 cents per passenger mile. And that 90 cents doesn't include any allowance for the massive subsidies that go into our highways.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    And when my property tax increased
    December 3, 2012 12:45 pm
    One of the benefits of rail is that it doesn't get stuck or stop in traffic (I was told)!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    ..."no solution in sight for Sounder's mudslide disruptions..."
    December 3, 2012 12:50 pm
    Where are the studies before you raised my property tax for your train?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    did you ever notice?
    December 3, 2012 1:23 pm
    the majority of traffic issues we hear about in the region are from accidents in the car pool lane, buses that get stuck in inclimate weather, trains that can't move due to landslides and the lake Union trolley that goes from nowhere to nowhere. If you really want to move traffice effectivily rather than just punish vehicle owners, you would make a traffic lane for slow moving traffic in lieu of the HOV lane.....vehicles with more than 6 wheels or trailers.....and stop the nonsense of getting on or off a freeway from 4 lanes over in 1/4 mile.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Fuego wrote...
    I'm shocked
    December 3, 2012 1:29 pm
    that some DOT engineer hasn't suggested a 1.5 billion tunnel through the hillside.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Passenger Trains in America don't "make" money
    December 3, 2012 1:56 pm
    That's why they're subsidized with government (tax) money. The railroads that own & operate the lines that they rely on are only concerned with clearing the tracks for freight to move. That freight can be diverted and forces the government to kick in $$ to repair those lines to get passenger service running again (and freight). Warren Buffet (1%er)owns the BNSF and is a major contributor to the current administration which means were gonna have to pay to fix his railroad. See how this works?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ahblid wrote...
    Actually Passenger Trains Used to Make Money
    December 3, 2012 5:56 pm
    That is until Government interfered in the Free Market by subsidizing flying & driving. Then the private RR companies could no longer charge enough to compete with how cheap subsidized driving looked. So today we subsidize everything, including passenger trains. As for diverting the freight when there is a problem, it gets diverted either hundreds of miles out of the way or onto trucks. Either of which means that the cost of everything you buy goes up. So you're going to pay one way or another. Even more so if things get diverted to trucks, since those trucks run on our heavily subsidized freeways and cause damaged to those same freeways.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • vern ivan wrote...
    The "cow catcher" :
    December 3, 2012 2:44 pm
    A while back there were "locomotives" , pretty huge cast iron giants that had an impressive proboscus. Not only did the "cow catcher" catch cows,antelope and buffalo, they also served to clear the rails of debris.Such as pictured. A snowplow, a bulldozer. I can imagine that,in the past the engineer when encountering a blockage to the rails would lock the "Johnson Bar" wide open. Blow the whistle, and just smack it full speed!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }