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After performing perfectly through the World Cup, Seattle light rail comes to a grinding halt
KUOW • • business
Key Points:
- Sound Transit experienced a record-breaking ridership of over 300,000 people on Monday during the U.S. World Cup match against Belgium, marking the highest single-day usage in the agency's history.
- June was the busiest month ever for Seattle light rail, with 5.4 million rides, supported by the deployment of 46 trains on match days to accommodate heavy demand.
- On Thursday morning, a loose rooftop hatch on a light rail car caused it to hit an overhead wire, resulting in a power outage that halted service on the 1 and 2 Lines between Capitol Hill and Northgate for over 15 hours.
- The shutdown disrupted both morning and evening commutes, forcing thousands of riders to use shuttle buses with long wait times, and some passengers reported inadequate notifications about the disruption.
- Sound Transit inspected the light rail cars following the incident, described it as isolated, and is taking measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
