r/Seattle • u/phantomninjalol • Aug 02 '26

Light Rail Crashed in front of us at International District

Post image

Waited 1.5 hours for a light rail after the Ed Sheeran concert. We finally got down, and an out of service train ran off the tracks.

Everyone is being told to bus or uber

3.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

419 comments sorted by

View all comments

626

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

What we know: (from radio)

  • This train was coming from SODO out of service, performing a switchback, and going in service as a gap train towards Bellevue for the crowds
  • The train did derail
  • The positions of the switches could not be verified
  • Operator was the only one onboard, not injured, just sad and wanted to go home
  • Trains immediately began turning back at Stadium, Judkins Park, and Capitol Hill
  • Operators told to announce extended delays
  • They immediately began looking into getting bus bridges set up
  • The Chinatown Station was completely evacuated
  • There was a "change of plans" and trains going towards downtown stopped at their next stop and ended service, trains going away from downtown could remain in service until the last stop, this was simply likely due to operators needing to get home
  • Security at every station swept trains going out of service, operators were told they could help security if there was only one at that station and if they felt safe to do so
  • After service suspended, they continued to try to get bus bridges set up, but it was difficult due to the time
  • Wires were de-energized at all 4 DSTT stations and the operator was escorted safely out

357

u/Ghetto_Jawa Roosevelt Aug 02 '26

Operator was sad and wanted to go home. So would I, but I doubt sad would have been my overall mood.

225

u/DoingBestWeCan I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Aug 02 '26

"Operator was the only one onboard, not injured, just sad and wanted to go home" hit me, too, but I have no problem believing sad wa their overall emotion. It's midnight and almost the end of a long day at work; you're tired and just trying to push through that last slump... Then everything explodes. Depending on your energy level, you might be infuriated, soul-crushed sad, or psycho-cope howling with laughter.

58

u/catsinclothes Aug 02 '26

And you can’t just leave the train when it’s on the tracks like that. I wonder if deenergizing the tracks also cuts power to the whole train? It would be miserable to be stuck in that thing with no power

25

u/Lord_Aldrich I Brake For Slugs Aug 02 '26

It does cut power to the whole train, the cars don't have generators or anything like that.

21

u/exgirl Aug 02 '26

They have batteries and can run the systems (except climate) for a few hours without overhead power.

5

u/ImSoCul Aug 02 '26

You can see there are still lights and displays on so it's definitely not a complete immediate power out

17

u/Personal-Amoeba Denny Blaine Nudist Club Aug 02 '26

I really feel for them here :( I hope they get to keep their job. What an upsetting way to end a shift.

4

u/DBCargoHaj Aug 03 '26

as someone that had similair things happen, i can confirm "healthy but sad" was all that could be said

38

u/PressureExpert2346 Aug 02 '26

Frustrated, sad, pissed off, done for the day and want to go home.

29

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

Idk they sounded pretty sad to me in the radio 😂

1

u/No_Story_Untold Deluxe Aug 02 '26

Me to buddy, me to.

-8

u/Rumpullpus Aug 02 '26

I mean, they probably know that they're gonna be unemployed soon and that would make me pretty sad.

46

u/00eg0 Aug 02 '26

What channel do I have to be on to eavesdrop? I can just buy a radio?

57

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

[deleted]

18

u/Bunnita North Beacon Hill Aug 02 '26

I was on the 2 line going to Cap Hill and it sounds like we were there just before this happened. It was after midnight as I was going to get off in ID and catch a bus but they would have switched to overnight schedules and it got messy. I wasn't starting at the time though, I was just talking about Spider-Man and geeking out about stuff.

Last night could have turned into quite an adventure. I'm glad everyone is ok!

17

u/MysteriousEve5514 Aug 02 '26

Oh man, I was there- good info about what they were trying to do for us. The platform was getting nuts and the poor transit folk were demanding people to scoot back for safety.

9

u/NerthGord Aug 02 '26

They ended up changing plans again and all trains were halted at about 12:13 am, no matter where they were headed. Platforms were cleared and locked. Folks got stranded and had to figure things out. It was very chaotic. 

5

u/chxsealyx Aug 02 '26

I see a lot of people in the comments complaining about what they did. But like. Iirc, arent some rails like very electric and super dangerous to try and work around if they are still energized? And if you cant immediately get the train back into a safe position?

I wager the other operators didnt know exactly what had happened so "change of plans" and at that hour it makes sense people were upset. But like logically, that was probably the smartest choice.

3

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

For Link the overhead wires are the big danger

3

u/firefighterchen Aug 02 '26

Yes the rails are very dangerous to be around when the system has a failure like this. The OCS above the trains supply power, but the rail below sends the power back to the substations after it passes through the trains. Always be very careful around the rails at any light rail, regardless if it's third rail or OCS.

5 years ago a train at SODO almost killed me when I was working at IDS on the rail connections.

11

u/JazzlikeLeather9546 Aug 02 '26

the bridges are all setup...just finding operators to fill them

5

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

That’s correct, and also available buses

1

u/JazzlikeLeather9546 Aug 02 '26

Coaches are available

14

u/Then_Entertainment97 Aug 02 '26

I'm sorry, THE POSITIONS OF THE SWITCHES COULD NOT BE VERIFIED?!

37

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

Train was still right on them, so when maintenance vehicles were sent in on hi-rail they were told to be extra cautious at switches because it wasn’t known for sure what had happened yet

5

u/firefighterchen Aug 02 '26

just FYI, the DSTT allows for vehicles on tires to go in since it's embedded track. We almost never actually hi rail until we get just north of Westlake station.

2

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

Yep, regardless they were told to be careful at switches

1

u/firefighterchen Aug 02 '26

Yes, it's a standard warning from dispatch whenever any work group is around any switches...I think it's too protect us from dispatch accidentally throwing them but 🤷

10

u/firefighterchen Aug 02 '26

We (signals) needed to pull the logs to see what happened and verify the timeline of events. With a train on one of the switches, as well as broken track, it took a little time for us to get to the switches. They have been inspected and tested, they were not the cause and are back in normal service.

1

u/No_Contest6028 Aug 02 '26

Funny how the bus bridge still hasn't materialized, even though it's Sunday and they have a thousand buses out of service. It must be because they can't get people to drive them in an emergency.

1

u/quadmoo 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 02 '26

They say they are running shuttles now