Sound Transit delays met with opposition

By Eric Pryne
Seattle Times staff reporter

Sound Transit finance chair Kevin Phelps

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Sound Transit finance chair Kevin Phelps says that's "ridiculous."

Yesterday Phelps, a Tacoma city councilman, ripped into Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the tracks, accusing the railroad of dragging its feet in making needed improvements so service can expand.

"The railroad agency does not care about the commuters of this region," Phelps said at a finance committee meeting.

But Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas said the work "has been held up due to factors outside of BNSF's control."

And Marty Minkoff, Sound Transit's transportation services director, said the railroad is working diligently to complete the improvements.

He also said he understands Phelps' frustration. Sound Transit plans to approach Burlington about speeding up the work so more trains can be added before 2007, he said.

Sound Transit runs three trains from Tacoma to Seattle each weekday morning and three return trips in the afternoon. The regional transit plan voters approved in 1996 calls for nine daily trips in each direction.

But first the tracks and signals must be upgraded.

In 1999 and 2000, the Sound Transit board agreed to pay Burlington $260 million plus interest for those fixes. Part of the problem, Phelps said, is that the contract didn't include a deadline.

While the contract didn't have a deadline, Minkoff said it did require Burlington to provide Sound Transit with a work schedule. That timetable originally called for completion of improvements to accommodate nine round-trip trains by November 2005, he said, but that work isn't scheduled to be done until February 2007.
 
The contract does allow the schedule to slip under some conditions, Minkoff said, and the reasons Burlington has given for the delay qualify. Chief among them: problems building an overpass in Tacoma that is needed to accommodate nine round-trip Sounder trains, but is neither Sound Transit's nor Burlington's responsibility.

Phelps and Minkoff said Burlington has held off on other improvements until the overpass problems are resolved. If the railroad could be persuaded to do those other fixes now, Phelps said, he's confident at least one more round-trip train could be added before 2007 — even without the overpass.

Phelps said he wants Burlington to come to the finance committee to talk about the situation. Sumner City Councilman Dave Enslow, another Sound Transit board member, agreed.

"It's hurting the credibility of this agency," he said of the slow pace of Sounder expansion.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com