Jake and Spike slam Sound Transit after Redmond light rail mishap: ‘Keep putting their foot in their mouth’
Jun 12, 2025, 5:00 AM
A light rail on the track at the downtown Redmond station during operator qualification testing. (Photo: Peter Bohler via KIRO 7)
(Photo: Peter Bohler via KIRO 7)
The recently opened Redmond light rail corridor was shut down Monday. Passengers were escorted off the train after a part that holds tensioned power lines broke, The Seattle Times reported. At one point, a metal section labeled “high voltage” fell onto the track between a train and a concrete wall.
Spike O’Neill, co-host of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, took aim at the manufacturers.
“Poorly installed, poorly checked,” he said. “As the world watches this light rail expansion—and Seattle public transportation just keeps putting their foot in their mouth—how does inspection not? How do we have something fall into the track a month into the ride? High danger, high voltage.”
Jake and Spike bring up Sound Transit CEO after Redmond light rail malfunction
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Spike then brought up Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine, who started in April.
“Thank goodness Dow Constantine is on the job,” he said cheekily. “These kinds of things are not going to happen anymore. We got a guy making twice what he’s worth. He’s going to stop this stuff from happening in the future.”
KIRO host Jake Skorheim shared similar thoughts on Constantine.
“Making $250,000 when he went into that job, now he’s making $450,000,” he said. “I don’t think he’s worth a quarter of what they’re paying him, but that’s my opinion.”
Listen to the full conversation below.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
