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.

EMD F59PHI Locomotive #911 at Lakewood Station

• 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.

Map of the planned DuPont Extension (Sound Transit)