Another mudslide halts Sounder commuter trains between Seattle and Everett
Mar 21, 2013, 12:20 PM | Updated: 12:24 pm
Don't hop on that train yet, the earliest Sounder commuter train service will resume is Monday morning. (Image courtesy WSDOT)
(Image courtesy WSDOT)
A mudslide Thursday morning has closed train tracks between Seattle and Everett.
BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas says the tracks will be closed to passenger trains until at least Saturday morning.
The earliest Sounder commuter train service will resume is Monday morning, pending the slopes remain stable and there are no other slides.
The slide happened at 10:10 a.m. about one mile south of Mukilteo in an area that experienced hundreds of slides this past winter. Melonas says this was the first slide in about three weeks.
Thursday’s slide left mud and other debris five feet deep on the tracks. A tree trunk that is 20 inches in diameter and 40 feet long also fell on the tracks.
“I’ve been here for ten years and this is the worst year we’ve ever had,”said Sound Transit’s Bruce Gray.
According to Gray, work is planned for this summer to pinpoint some of the more “slide-prone areas” and take what measures they can to try and firm up those slopes.
An Associated Press report with contributions from MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven
