1 Line Maintenance November & December

Two weeks ago, Sound Transit announced the decision to expand overnight maintenance once a month to improve system reliability, and kicked off that work last weekend during which the agency closed all 1 Line stations south of Rainier Beach a few hours early each night to allow for additional maintenance.

Yesterday, Sound Transit issued a news release announcing seven more strategic closures" intended to support repairs, maintenance, and critical 2 Line integration work". The agency says buses will replace trains during these service suspensions, the first of which is this Saturday. Details after the jump.

Upgrades, Repairs, and Maintenance:

• Upgrade: Sat., Nov. 8, until 2pm: Closed between U District and Westlake to upgrade ventilation equipment. The agency recently temporarily closed the Beacon Hill station to repair and upgrade the ventilation system there, after electromechanical failures forced the station to close unexpectedly in August. ST told Seattle Transit Blog these are the last two stations of a 15-station project to upgrade switches in the fire life safety system.
• Repair: Sun., Nov. 16, all day: Closed between Capitol Hill and Stadium to replace a cracked rail north of Westlake. This should resolve the slow order" currently in effect on northbound trains out of Westlake.
• Extra Monthly Maintenance: Tues., Nov. 18, to Thurs., Nov. 20: Service between Capitol Hill and Stadium will end early (likely sometime between 10 and 11pm) as part of the expanded monthly maintenance program.
• Extra Monthly Maintenance: Tues., Dec. 2, to Thurs., Dec. 4: Service between Northgate and Capitol Hill will end early (likely sometime between 10 and 11pm) to allow for expanded overnight maintenance. Last trains will likely run shortly after 10pm.

Sound Transit was not able to share exactly what work is on the docket for the upcoming monthly maintenance windows, but said the previous extended maintenance window increased the productive work window from a slim 1.5 hours to 3.8 hours per night. The extended work windows allowed for more complicated work like replacing nearly 1,000 feet of rail, inspecting and adjusting larger batches of support structures at once, and troubleshooting malfunctioning equipment.

Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel Signal Upgrades:

In December, Sound Transit is finally implementing a critical upgrade in the DSTT: installation of Automatic Train Protection (ATP). Although the rest of the Link system already has this standard piece of safety equipment, the DSTT is still operating in its original street-running configuration as if busses were still trundling through the tunnels. Installation of ATP in the DSTT is key" in enabling the double-frequency trains in the tunnel once the 2 Line opens across Lake Washington next year.

For this work, the tunnel between Capitol Hill and Stadium will have an extra long closure on these nights:

• 11pm Friday, Dec. 12, to 10am Sat., Dec. 13
• 11pm Saturday. Dec. 20, to 10am Sunday, Dec. 21
• 11pm Saturday. Dec. 27, to 10am Sunday, Dec. 28