Sound Transit restored light rail service Sunday afternoon after an out-of-service train derailed late Saturday night as it moved toward the southbound platform at the International District/Chinatown station. No passengers were aboard and no injuries were reported. The derailment occurred just before midnight, as thousands of people were leaving an Ed Sheeran concert at Lumen Field.
Service was cut through the core of the system for roughly eight hours Sunday. The 1 Line stopped operating between Capitol Hill and SODO stations, and the 2 Line between Capitol Hill and Judkins Park, with shuttle buses bridging the gap. Riders described crowded conditions on the replacement buses, and Sound Transit staff were posted at the CID station to direct passengers to the right shuttle.
The timing fell across a heavy weekend for downtown, with a Mariners home game and summer visitor traffic on top of the concert crowds. One family of seven attempting to reach Sea-Tac left their hotel hours early after learning service was down. A visitor from Los Angeles said she had bought a light rail ticket before the suspension was announced.
Sound Transit has not identified a cause. Recovery work and a root cause investigation are ongoing, and the agency confirmed this is only the second derailment of its kind since a comparable incident in 2009
