Preventing mudslides onto rail lines

Joni Earl, CEO
Sound Transit

By Joni Earl, CEO Sound Transit

This wet week is the perfect time to be talking about mudslides. Early Thursday, a slide near Mukilteo forced us to cancel Sounder trains on the north line between Everett and Seattle. And later that same day, we briefed the Sound Transit Operations Committee on the Washington Department of Transportation’s recently completed Landslide Mitigation Action Plan.

That plan, which the state DOT developed in coordination with the BNSF Railway Co., Amtrak, Sound Transit and local jurisdictions, includes short, intermediate and long-term strategies for reducing slides in the north line.

Short-term strategies include reaching out to property owners on the bluffs overlooking the tracks to help reduce slides by controlling their vegetation and drainage. Other short-term strategies involve increased maintenance of slide fences, ditches and other drainage improvements.

Intermediate strategies consist of include six construction projects to improve conditions in high-slide areas. Two of those projects were completed last year. Using a $16 million federal grant, BNSF recently finished a 700-foot-long 10-foot-high slope retaining wall north of Mukilteo and a 200-foot-long wall north of Edmonds.

Long-term strategies include removing debris, restoring slopes, optimizing structures and evaluating the effectiveness of these stabilization projects.

We realize that the slides are an inconvenience for our north line Sounder riders and we appreciate their patience. To help make the commute easier during train cancellations, we run special buses directly to and from the stations in Everett, Mukilteo and Edmonds.