An empty Link train derailed late last night while turning around using the pocket track at International District/Chinatown station, cutting off downtown service on the 1 Line and 2 Line and sending shuttle buses into place. The train was headed to Stadium station to help ease the crowds of Ed Sheeran fans waiting for a train home, but it never made it past the switch.
As of this morning, the train had been removed from the station and crews were still inspecting the tracks and overhead wires. The derailment may have damaged the wire above the guideway, adding another layer of repair work to a scene that was already forcing riders off trains and onto buses in the middle of the night.
The disruption mattered because it hit the system’s downtown core even though the train was empty. Trains were still running between Capitol Hill and Lynnwood, between SODO and Federal Way, and between Judkins Park and Downtown Redmond, but riders trying to move through downtown had to rely on shuttle buses while crews worked through the problem.
The question left behind was not whether service was affected; it was why the train came off the rail at the switch in the first place. The line had been described as a developing story, and Sound Transit had not responded to a request for comment at the time, leaving the cause of the derailment and the extent of any wire damage still unresolved.
Normal service on the 1 Line and 2 Line resumed shortly after 2pm on Sunday, but the episode showed how one empty train can still upend a busy corridor when it derails at the wrong place and time.
