Local News

Sounder service between Seattle and Everett has been canceled until at least Monday morning after a mudslide blocked two tracks around 10:30 this morning, according to BNSF Railway.

The mudslide occurred between Mukilteo and Edmonds, the railroad reports. Under BNSF 48-hour safety rules, Sounder service will resume Monday morning if there are no further slides and the slopes adjacent to the tracks remain stable.

Extra bus alternatives are being arranged and riders can travel between Seattle and Everett.

There have been about 200 mudslides in the rail corridor between Seattle and Everett this past winter, and 82 of them have been classified as significant. In 50 cases the slides have blocked at least one track and triggered the two-day ban on passenger service.

The latest mudslide on train tracks between Seattle and Everett. (Gus Melonas / BNSF Railway)

Yet another mudslide on BNSF Railway tracks between Seattle and Everett has canceled Northline Sounder service for 48 hours. There will be no service for this evening’s commute and none for Friday.

Southline Sounder service between Seattle and Lakewood is not affected.

Sound Transit suggests Northline Sounder passengers monitor www.soundtrantransit.org for updates and provides the following information about bus service this evening and Friday morning between Seattle and points north:

Evening bus service – Thursday, January 3, 2013

Seattle – Edmonds: Special buses will depart 4th Ave. S. and S. Jackson St. at 4:33 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. with direct service to Edmonds Station. Riders may also board regularly scheduled Community Transit Route 416 at 5th and James at 4:27 p.m., 4:58 p.m., 5:31 p.m. and 5:57 p.m.

Seattle – Mukilteo: Special buses will depart 4th Ave. S. and S. Jackson St. at 4:33 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. with direct service to Mukilteo Station. Riders may also board regularly scheduled Community Transit Route 417 at 4th Ave S and S Jackson St at 3:59 p.m., 4:22 p.m. 4:50 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.

Seattle – Everett: Special buses will depart 4th Ave. S. and S. Jackson St. at 4:05 p.m., 4:33 p.m. 5:05 p.m., and 5:35 p.m. with direct service to Everett Station. Riders may also board regularly scheduled ST Express Route 510 buses at 4th Ave. S and S. Jackson St. departing approximately every 10 minutes.

Morning bus service – Friday, January 4, 2013

Everett-Seattle: Board regularly scheduled ST Express Route 510 at Everett Station bay C1, departing approximately every 10 minutes. Additional 510 coaches will be deployed to accommodate Sounder riders.

Mukilteo-Seattle: Special buses will depart Mukilteo Station at 5:56 a.m. and 7:26 a.m. Riders may also board regularly scheduled Community Transit Route 417 at the Ferry Terminal departing at 5:49 a.m., 6:21 a.m., 6:51 a.m., and 7:53 a.m.

Edmonds-Seattle: Special buses will depart Edmonds Station at 6:11 a.m. and 7:41 a.m. Riders may also board regularly scheduled Community Transit Route 416 at Edmonds Station departing at 6:15 a.m., 6:35 a.m., 6:55 a.m., and 7:47 a.m.

A 33-year-old man died after he was struck by a train in the tunnel north of King Street Station in Seattle this morning, according to Seattle police.

Police said the man was hit at about 4:30 a.m. by a BNSF Railway train that was traveling north.

Fire department medics responded and took the man to Harborview Medical Center, but was reported dead by Saturday afternoon.

Police have not said how the man came to be on tracks, but detectives with the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad are investigating.

A rare mudslide in downtown Seattle has halted passenger rail service at least until early Sunday.

The slide, triggered by heavy rains, sent mud up to four feet deep across a 50-foot section of track near Alaskan Way, near the north end of the downtown waterfront, about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway.

Six freight trains were delayed before crews cleared the tracks enough for the trains to resume travel about 3 a.m. Friday.  Under railroad policy, passenger service won’t resume until the tracks have been clear for 48 hours — 1:30 a.m. Sunday at the earliest.

Because of the heavy overnight rains, railroad workers were watching for signs of mudslides, which have been common on the tracks further north, particularly near Edmonds. Melonas said this was the biggest slide in about a decade inside Seattle.

The closure affects Sounder rail service from Everett and Amtrak service from Seattle north.

The Associated Press

 AUBURN — A BNSF Railway spokesman says a person attempting to cross BNSF’s rail yard in Auburn was hit and killed Tuesday evening by a northbound Amtrak train.

Spokesman Gus Melonas said investigators could not immediately determine the victim’s sex.

Witnesses say the person apparently climbed through an idle freight train, then stepped in front of the approaching Amtrak train shortly after 6 p.m.

Melonas says passenger- and freight-train traffic through the area was temporarily delayed.

Mudslides near Everett have stopped Amtrak service from Seattle to Vancouver, according to Amtrak.

Amtrak is using buses to shuttle passengers between the two cities during a 48-hour moratorium imposed on passenger rail service by BNSF Railway. The railway wants to make sure the area is stable before sending passenger trains through.

Amtrak service to Vancouver, B.C., is expected to be restored on Friday. Service to points south of Seattle are running according to normal schedules.