For the first time, regional Sounder trains between Seattle and Tacoma will start running in the middle of the day, giving people a new option to get out of traffic.
Beginning September 12, Sound Transit will add a northbound train that leaves Lakewood at 10:18 a.m. and arrives in Seattle at 11:31 a.m.
Return trains leaving Seattle will begin around 2:30 p.m., about 45 minutes earlier than they do now.
"We have a lot of people commuting at different hours," said Kimberly Reason, of Sound Transit.
Reason said the midday service is the second of four Sounder south line service expansions voters approved in the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure in 2008.
"It takes a while to roll out all these investments," Reason said.
In part, that's because Sound Transit must negotiate with Burlington Northern Santa Fe for space on the tracks, and the railroad doesn't give it away cheap.
Two more Sounder trips will be added early next year, when nine new train cars arrive.
One will cost $52 million, the other $43 million.
Dave Enslow is the mayor of Sumner, which is 37 minutes from Seattle by train.
He says hourly service to get people out of traffic would be ideal.
"Every hour from early morning until late at night, that would be the nicest," Enslow said.
Reason said Sound Transit is negotiating with BNSF about expanding Sounder service.
The Sound Transit 3 ballot initiative before voters in November would expand service south to Tillicum and DuPont, and would extend platforms to allow ten car trains, instead of the seven car trains running now.
Cox Media Group
