Some Sound Transit light-rail screeches just won't stop

Eight months after Sound Transit declared its train noise to be a health hazard, trains still screech along the Duwamish River Bridge in Tukwila and ka-thunk over a series of switches near Mount Baker Station.

Transit spokesman Bruce Gray says the agency has spent $800,000 on several fixes and has even flown in international experts but still hasn't figured out how to quiet some trouble spots. The agency will keep trying ideas to make the 16-mile line from Seattle to Sea-Tac quieter.

Not only are the sounds an irritant on the year-old corridor but also a political problem for Sound Transit as it designs voter-approved extensions to the north, east and south. In Bellevue, the Surrey Downs neighborhood and Councilman Kevin Wallace have invoked noise as a reason to suggest alignment changes.

Meanwhile, northbound trains going about 50 mph Friday morning along the Duwamish River emitted a metallic whine — loud enough to drown out conversation at Melissa Doak's front door.

"You can't have your windows open," she said. "You can't be in your backyard; you can't be on your phone; you can't have a conversation."

The problem is mainly from northbound trains, as much of the southbound roar is absorbed by the bridge decks.

A black vinyl curtain, about 3 feet high, has been fastened to the elevated trackway as an experiment, along a one-block length. Gray said a stronger temporary barrier will be installed this summer, and monitored.

Rail grinding last winter improved the sound on much of the line, but loudness inexplicably increased near the river, Gray said. Neighbor David Shumate, who started taking noise measurements last year, said the new vinyl barrier has lowered the volume about 3 decibels, but he says noise is still 82-83 decibels, similar to what a Sound Transit noise consultant, Michael Minor & Associates, documented last year.

A reading of 83 decibels is similar to standing alongside a kitchen garbage disposal. The cumulative effect of trains running up to 19 hours a day exceeded Federal Transit Administration standards for residential areas, the official study found.

Noise experts are taking readings again and will issue reports this month.

Shumate and Doak urge officials to fasten a permanent barrier, similar to some fencing farther south in Tukwila — where a thick metal bulwark at least 6 feet high was installed at the outset, to protect nearby houses.

Such a retrofit is being considered but would disrupt train service during installation, likely forcing trains to take turns using a single track, Gray said.

A few miles north, the "Quiet Our Valley" group of neighbors have held meetings in their homes with transit officials.

Sound Transit and the city have reduced the effects of roadside bells at major intersections. And train operators now ring their onboard bells fewer times at crossings — typically one to three rings per intersection in the north Rainier Valley.

Transit contractors installed lubrication machines to reduce screeching on curves. The biodegradable gel automatically is squirted on the rails, where wheels pick it up and spread it near Mount Baker Station. The lubrication is helping somewhat, and Gray said one lube point will be moved closer to the Beacon Hill Tunnel soon.

However, the 100-ton trains still thud along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, just downhill from the Cheasty Greenbelt. From resident Ed Kronenberger's front window, each passing train makes a series of ka-thunks as axles pass the switches. Sound Transit has tried another switch type without success, and engineers are looking at new ideas.

"We are basically back to the drawing board with the switches," Gray said.

One suggestion, to reduce the standard 35 mph train speed, was rejected by light-rail director Ahmad Fazel. Slowdowns likely would interfere with signal timing, and train schedules already are vulnerable to delay in the shared bus-rail tunnel downtown.

In September, Sound Transit's then-chairman, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, signed an emergency declaration on noise, allowing contracts totaling up to $1 million to be signed without a time-consuming bid process.

An outreach worker sends neighbors weekly updates, and thanks them for their patience, which they say has worn thin as summer approaches.

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