Heaters helped keep light rail moving

While cars and buses moved at a snail's pace early this week, Seattle's new light-rail system ran smoothly.

Sound Transit's engineers learned from a failure in Portland. During the mid-December 2008 storm, segments of the MAX rail system were paralyzed by frozen switches.

The agency retrofitted its 16-mile Link line, which opened last year, adding 64 heaters to 50 switches, at a cost of $2.1 million. An electric current warms the rails — like a defroster wire thaws your car's rear window.

"It was money well spent, that's for sure," transit spokesman Bruce Gray said.

The most critical switches are the SeaTac/Airport Station at the end of the line, where trains switch tracks so they can return to Tukwila and Seattle; and at the maintenance yard in Sodo, where 50 switches enable trains to enter the mainline.

A bus is usually faster than rail for Terry Beck of Seattle, who works in Tacoma. But when news broke Monday that freeway traffic was icebound — for as long as nine hours, it turned out — he changed itinerary, using Sounder commuter rail to downtown, then light-rail to Columbia City Station.

"I was 15 minutes late," he marveled.

But even rail transit had its foibles.

Tuesday evening, a frozen track switch in Sodo, and freight traffic, delayed an incoming Sounder commuter train 1 1/2 hours, so departures to Tacoma were delayed.

Transit employees escorted waiting passengers from King Street Station to Union Station to keep warm in the main hall until the 5:12 Sounder train was ready to leave, said spokesman Bruce Gray. It reached Tacoma at 7:40, or 89 minutes late. Another train was canceled, and five were delayed 25 minutes or less.

Unlike light-rail, the commuter trains share regional freight tracks with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. BNSF crews must move frozen switches manually, often using a blowtorch.

But the automatic light-rail switches all worked.

In addition, crews ran empty trains after hours to keep the tracks clear and prevent frost buildup on the overhead wire that supplies electric power to move the trains. There was only one switch freeze that hindered a train leaving the yard early Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, trains carried 100 to 200 people each to the airport.

Link passenger Lauren Wishnie of Ballard, heading to Atlanta for a half-marathon and family dinner, said she'd normally drive to the airport, but icy roads changed her mind. "I knew it was good if I did not inflict my snow-driving ability on the rest of the Seattle population," she said.

Erin Schwartz, en route to Memphis and Dallas with her husband, Adam Johnson, said the mostly-full train lent a festive air to the journey. They recalled miserable trips in the past, including a three-hour stop when a fistfight broke out on the now-defunct #174 bus.

The worst light-rail incident was unrelated to weather, when Link departed Westlake Center about 20 minutes late during Tuesday's afternoon rush. By the time it embarked, a double-shot of people were waiting to ride.

"I almost fell out when the door opened. It was packed," Maria Dasovich said. "It was kind of festive. People were, like, more friendly." Dasovich said she usually bicycles from Beacon Hill to work, but resorted to the warmer trains this week.

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