Friday Roundtable: Sounder Turns 25
Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Sounder, Sound Transit's commuter rail service. On the morning of September 18, 2000, the first Sounder trip departed a temporary station in Tacoma and headed towards King Street Station in Seattle. Along the way, the train stopped in Sumner and Auburn. A second trip ran later in the morning, and two trips back to Tacoma ran in the afternoon.
Over the past 25 years, the Sounder network has grown to include 2 lines, 12 station, and nearly 83 miles of track. Let's take a look at a few key milestones in Sounder's history.

- September 18, 2000: Sounder begins revenue service with two daily round trips between Tacoma and Seattle.
- February 5, 2001: Stations open in Puyallup and Kent.
- March 12, 2001: Tukwila station opens.
- September 30, 2002: A third daily trip is added.
- September 15, 2003: The temporary station in Tacoma is replaced by a platform at Tacoma Dome Station's Freighthouse Square.
- December 17, 2003: Sound Transit and BNSF agree to a perpetual easement agreement to Burlington Northern tracks between Seattle and Everett.
- December 21, 2003: The North Line begins service with a Sunday train for a Seahawks game. The line had one stop in Edmonds.
- December 22, 2003: Regular North Line service begins with one daily round trip from Everett to Seattle.
- June 6, 2005: A second daily North Line trip is added.
- September 24, 2007: The South Line adds its first reverse commute' trip, traveling from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning and Tacoma to Seattle in the afternoon.
- May 31, 2008: Mukilteo station on the North Line opens.
- October 8, 2012: The South Line is extended to South Tacoma and Lakewood.
- March 23, 2020: Service on both lines is cut in half, the South Line is cut to eight daily round trips and the North Line is cut to two daily round trips.
- September 18, 2021: The North Line and South Line are renamed to the N Line and S Line, respectively.
- September 19, 2022: S Line is fully restored to pre-pandemic service levels.
- September 16, 2024: N Line is fully restored to pre-pandemic service levels.
While much of Sound Transit's focus has shifted to its Link light rail system, a S Line extension was included in the 2016 voter approved ST3 package. This extension, scheduled to open in 2045, will add two new stations at Tillicum and DuPont.
