Sound Transit is investigating what caused a train to stall as thousands of fans were leaving Sunday's Apple Cup, stranding some passengers for hours.
Sound Transit is investigating what caused a train to stall near the U District as thousands of fans were leaving Sunday's Apple Cup, stranding some passengers on packed trains for almost two hours.
Krystal Bryant and her family were among the dozens who braved long lines to board a packed northbound Link light rail train from the UW campus after watching the Huskies beat the Cougars. The train stalled shortly after leaving the U District station, she said.
"I felt really bad. We had young kids on that train. There were babies on that train. I mean, you had people that were in wheelchairs," Bryant said. "People were crammed. You had people standing everywhere. Had they not opened the doors, nobody would have even been able to move."
Other passengers sent KOMO video they took while stuck on the train, saying the cars lost power and air conditioning at times, and they couldn't hear any of the announcements.
"The darkness didn't go for too long. It was like maybe five minutes at a time," said Bryant's son, Gabriel Newcomm, who was also stuck on the train.
In a statement, Sound Transit said:
Sunday evening at about 5:50, a northbound 2 Line train experienced a mechanical issue and stopped between University of Washington and Roosevelt stations.
Rescue trains transported the passengers who were on the stranded train, which took about an hour to complete. A shuttle train operated on the southbound track between University of Washington and Northgate stations while responders moved the disabled train. Normal operations resumed at about 8:20 p.m.
The cause of the malfunction is being investigated.
"They opened the doors and let people get off the train because we were packed in like sardines. Finally, they let us just roam through the tunnel a little bit, and so, but people are on the tracks," Bryant said. "After a long day of sitting in the sun and then being stuck on a train for hours, when you're just ready to go home, and there's no bathroom. There's no information being given."
Bryant said she wants more transparency from Sound Transit going forward.
"Why don't you tell people what happened? Like, if it's a mechanical issue, that's fine, but tell them they're going to be stopped there, or fix the problems before you send trains out after major sporting events," she said.
This isn't the first major service disruption on the light rail. In July, damage to the overhead power system near the UW station shut down service from Northgate to Capitol Hill for several hours.
Sound Transit hasn't said whether Sunday's disruption is related to that earlier issue, which was caused by an open hatch that damaged the overhead power system.
At the time, the agency said it would begin inspecting hatches more regularly to prevent similar failures.
