Sound Transit to launch its first morning train to Tacoma

Tacoma will live up to the nickname "City of Destiny" on Sept. 24, when Sound Transit launches its first morning commuter train from Seattle to its southern neighbor.

The new train is expected to attract workers from suburbs such as Kent, Auburn and Puyallup heading south to Tacoma, where a downtown revival and port expansions are under way.

"The reverse commute [service] gets us around the notion that 'all roads lead to Rome' — or Seattle, in this case," said Congressman Norm Dicks, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Tacoma.

A second new train will take the traditional morning trip into Seattle, for a total of six on Sounder's south line. An additional train will be added to the less-popular route from Everett to Seattle, bringing the total to three north-end trains.

Sound Transit's voter-approved plan of 1996 originally promised nine south-line trains within a decade, but officials underestimated the high costs and long negotiations needed to gain access to the regional freight tracks, which BNSF Railway owns.

Critics point out that trips on Sounder are highly subsidized. Total startup costs, including operations and trains, are estimated at $1.2 billion from 1997 to 2020.

This month's service upgrade gives passengers more choices of when to travel.

Starting Sept. 24, the earliest train from Tacoma to Seattle will leave at 5 a.m. instead of the current 5:45, said spokeswoman Linda Robson. And the final afternoon departure back to Tacoma, now at 5:40 p.m., will leave King Street Station at 5:55 p.m., giving more workers a shot at catching the train.

The service increase comes as Sound Transit is seeking voter approval of Proposition 1 in November, to fund light-rail routes and highway lanes. Construction costs would be $18 billion in current dollars, and the package totals $38 billion when administration, inflation, operations and financing are included through 2027.

Sounder is coming off a strong August, as lane closures on northbound Interstate 5 prompted hundreds of new riders to try commuter rail; the south line exceeded 8,000 trips on its busiest days. The Everett line averaged only about 800 weekday trips as of this spring.

Full schedules are at www.soundtransit.org.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com