Sound Transit begins work addressing rail noise
Written by jrood
Sound Transit contractors begin work Feb. 27-28 to make light rail tracks in Seattle and Tukwila quieter. The work will take place overnight, mostly on weekends and may cause service delays between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Information on service interruptions will be available at all stations.
Contractors will begin
installing automatic track lubricators along curving sections of the light rail
tracks in Tukwila and the Rainier Valley in Seattle and will also modify a set
of track switches in the Rainier Valley. The solar-powered track lubricators
automatically dispense a biodegradable gel across the tracks, which lessens
wheel squeal when trains pass over. The track switch work will also make them
quieter as trains pass over.
Last fall Sound Transit
determined that the noise levels along some sections of the light rail line
between downtown Seattle and Tukwila were higher than anticipated. This work is
designed to lower these noise levels,
Sound Transit contractors
in December ground the surface of the rails and adjusted the rail profile in
some areas to help lessen track noise.
The work begins Feb. 28 at
10 p.m. and is scheduled to finish in early May. All of the work will be done
overnight to minimize service impacts. After 10 p.m., trains will run approximately
every 20 – 30 minutes instead of every 15 minutes as normally scheduled.
