Sound Transit knocked out again, no sign mudslides will go away
Feb 10, 2015, 5:45 PM | Updated: Feb 11, 2015, 7:48 am
(File photo)
(File photo)
Sound Transit riders will once again be forced to take the bus after a mudslide near Everett shut down the passenger service Tuesday.
“We would like to say we can eliminate these, but [mudslides are] driven by heavy rainfall and we’re not going to stop the rainfall,” BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Malonas said.
A mudslide at about 3 p.m. near Everett cancelled Sound Transit’s passenger service. The service was placed on a 48-hour moratorium. Service will resume Thursday if deemed safe.
Though passenger service was halted until Thursday, Malonas said freight service resumed at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
BNSF is working to lower the amount of slides in the future. That includes plans for a drainage system in the Everett area, which could be installed later this year if approved, Malonas said.
“We’ve invested in some of the more problematic areas,” he said.
Slides have been recorded in the corridor since 1914. An estimated 1,000 have been measured since.
“We apply technology, but there’s only so much you can do when you have 300 miles of track with steep slopes on one side,” Malonas said.
