Sounder North Was Mudslide Free This Winter

Mudslide mitigation / WSDOT

I am totally tempting fate here by posting this, so sorry if I anger the gods, but I wanted to take a moment to recognize that there were no mudslide-induced cancellations on Sounder North this year. Sound Transit's Bonnie Todd noted it at the last ST ops committee meeting (video - skip to the ~13 minute mark).

Todd noted the stark change from the winter of 2012-13, when 27.5 days of service were cancelled. Another 1500-foot catchment wall was added in the Everett area this year, further improving reliability. Some dry months may have helped as well.

In 2015, I wrote about the mitigation efforts WSDOT and ST were undertaking. Soon after I wrote that, sure enough, there was a mudslide.

More reliability is great news for both Sounder North and Amtrak Cascades.