The second time this season a mudslide has closed Everette - Seattle service for 48 hours. Passengers on EB have to leave / board train at Everette and bus to Seattle station. Train set can DH to / from Seattle with no passengers. Sounder alert.
Sound Transit Northline Sounder service between Seattle and Everett is canceled Sunday, Nov. 30 for the Sounders FC match and Monday, Dec. 1st for regular commuter service due to a mudslide. Riders going to the mat
I defer to your experience as a resident – but doesn’t it take more than a day such as you describe to freeze the ground? (It sure does in North Dakota.) I seem to remember slides on this route as a year-around threat.
Yes, it does. The slide happened on Saturday the 29th, which was the transition day from warm and wet to cold and dry. Things didn’t fully freeze until yesterday. It is the wetness that causes the slides. So far this year we have had a cold and dry winter, so there have been few slides.
Northwest – Appears another mud slide north of Seattle. Is I-5 immune to slides or does it sometimes close as well? Looks like the rains will cause more slides all week?
Because of the slides BNSF has a system wide policy that no passenger carrying trains can traverse an area. The equipment can ferry thru slide area but no paying passengers. Do not know if any train is limited to just engineer and conductor. Anyone know?.
Here is Sound transit’s notification.
Sound Transit Northline Sounder service between Everett and Seattle is canceled Thursday, December 11th due to a mudslide that occurred on 12/10/14. Sound Transit will provide special buses with direct service to/f
Dec 10 at 11:01 PM
Sounder Northline Canceled 12/11/14 - Morning Bus Information
Here is a Seattle times article about mudslide. Engineer of a Sounder train traveling about 1/2 mile south of Everette saw a mud slide put train in emergency and stopped with front of train in debris. After about 1 hour was able to continue but all trains with passengers stopped from transiting at least to Friday night. Once again the Empire Builder will have to bus passengers to / from Everette - Seattle.
I am familiar with the geography and geology between Everett and Seattle. The entire area is a series of drumlins, a lovely word for elongated hills composed of unsorted glacial till. Till is a mix of sand, gravel, boulders, and mud with virtually no sorting.
North of the Ballard drawbridge all the way to Everett, about 25 miles, the railroad runs along the shore of Puget Sound, and the foot of the drumlins, at about 20 feet above sea level. Puget Sound is immediately west of the railroad and drumlins rise immediately east of the railroad. Drumlins extend 150’ or so above the railroad. When the till gets wet on a steep side slope of the drumlins the material slides toward the sea as it has done since the glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago.
I-5 is a few miles inland on top of the till. The till is stable under the freeway because it does not have a convient hole to slide into.
What Mac said. The till creates a bunch of rolling hills that aren’t conducive to railroad building; the other railroad that built north (NP) went to the east of most of it. GN built essentially along the beach in most areas between Everett and Interbay. This creates its own problems, a couple weeks ago there were swells over the top of the line, which caused signal system outages.
I suspect only the crew is allowed on passenger equipment moves, my understanding is that liability is the reason for disallowing passenger trains. In earlier eras, GN trains went through.
Well, that’s an impressive picture. Most of the time, swells in the Puget Sound don’t get over about two feet, and the ROW is high and dry. About 5 days a year a storm will whip up the water like this. I think trains are limited to 10 MPH when this happens. It is not normal*.*
Another slide on early Friday morning which eliminates any passenger service until Sunday morning. Posters we appreciate the lesson on Till. Sounds like good soil for growing plants but takes in too much water allowing mudslides.
Mudslide season continues. Sounder northline cancelled Friday Dec 26… This means that Amtrak Cascades and Empire Builder cancelled Everette - Seattle as well as Saturday. When will it ever end ?
Sound Transit Northline Sounder service between Everett and Seattle is canceled for Friday December 26, 2014, due to a mudslide. Sound Transit will provide special buses with direct service to/from Northline Sounde
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Today at 5:10 PM
Sounder Northline Canceled 12/26/14 - Morning Bus Information
And the beat goes on the Sounder cancellation means Amtrak buses all passengers Everette - Seattle.
Copy of Sounder press release below.
Sound Transit Northline Sounder service between Everett and Seattle is canceled for Monday December 29, 2014, due to a mudslide. Sound Transit will provide special buses with direct service to/from Northline Sounde
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me
Today at 4:55 PM
Sounder Northline Canceled 12/29/14 - Morning Bus Information
There have been quite a few slides as of late all over Western Washington, with many not affecting the railroad. Many of the rivers are in full flood stage.
Typical media. Well, no. Only a few areas had slides, just more than usual for a large rainstorm. Blue Streak asked above when it will end. The answer? When the rainy season begins to taper off, or about April.
