Link disrupted due to power issues near UW Station

A still frame captured from a video posted to various social media midday today shows a section of overhead wire damaged on July 9, 2026 (Sound Transit). Click to enlarge.

At 6:47 this morning, Sound Transit issued an ominous alert stating 1 Line and 2 Line trains are experiencing delays until further notice due to power issue near University of Washington Station". Less than 10 minutes later, Link service between Northgate, Stadium, and Judkins Park Station was suspended due to the power issue, with shuttle buses ordered to provide replacement service as Sound Transit investigated the issue. Later in the morning, some 1 and 2 Line trains began operating through Westlake Station.

On Bluesky, Ryan Packer shared comments from Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine during this morning's meeting of the Sound Transit Board:

At a board meeting this morning, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine says "localized damage" to the overhead wire system near UW station caused the system outage that began this morning and is still ongoing. He says the repairs are expected to take several more hours.

- Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T17:35:01.073Z

University of Washington graduate student William Wixson was onboard the affected train and shared some posts, including a photo of riders evacuating through the tunnel.

In a video posted on various social media channels (including Bluesky and instagram) midday today, Sound Transit Public Information Officer Henry Bendon shared a photo of the damaged section of overhead wire (above). Photographer Bruce Englehardt spotted a damaged Link vehicle parked on the tail tracks at Northgate Station and shared some photos on Bluesky.

A damaged Link light rail vehicle was seen on the pocket tracks north of Northgate Station a midday (Bruce Englehardt).

On September 17, 2024, Link experienced an extended outage due damage to the overhead power system near UW Station caused by a damaged pantograph. An emergency repair was implemented and service restored the following day.

As of 5:00pm, Link trains are still not operating between Northgate and Capitol Hill stations and repairs are reportedly underway. Seattle Transit Blog has reached out to Sound Transit for more information and will update this post accordingly.

Update: Service has been restored as of 9:47pm.