Sounder North unfortunately has had years of these mudslide closures already, and that is already scaring away riders; I don't think this line has commuters relying on it at this point. :-( Until the mudslide problem can be fixed permanently, I don't think preemptive closures are making the problem any *worse*.
It has worse problems. The line is geographically problematic. There are only three stations north of Seattle. Since it hugs the ocean, each station has half the catchment area of a typical station -- everyone has to come from the east. (The exception is people connecting from the ferry at Edmonds or Mulkiteo; but the islands on the other side of the ferry are very sparsely populated.)
Despite running four trains each way, It only runs during peak hours, it only runs in "standard commute direction" (no midday service, no reverse-peak service), and the last northbound leaves at 5:35 PM! (Which renders it worthless for a lot of jobs.) This is somewhat alleviated by letting people take Amtrak Cascades instead, but Cascades skips Mulkiteo. Also, the buses from Everett to Seattle are both faster and cheaper than the train. Edmonds is served pretty well, but boy, those are a lot of handicaps for this service.
Sounder North is a good example of how much ridership and revenue you can get from rail bias alone; it's more than I would have expected, but it is really less than viable in its current form. Maybe after all the mudslide stuff is fixed, some thought can be put into "rebooting" it with a more viable service. Transit advocates in the area have seriously suggested suspending it and redirecting the funds to capital improvements to fix the mudslide problem permanently.
This is a big contrast to Sounder South (Seattle-Tacoma-Lakewood), which is enjoying success upon success.
I visit relatives near Seattle every year or so.
I agree that the Sounder North is not a big deal, little used by commuters (far less than, say, the New Mexico Rail Runner)
When I've stayed in Everett for a week, I never even considered using the Sounder trains - the Sound Transit buses are far more frequent, clean, and fast, for getting to Seattle and points south and east.
I once took a bus to Mukilteo -- the place is only a ferry port, nothing at all there ( well, watching the BNSF trains go by was OK, there's a nearby spur to the big main Boeing plant) .
And then took a bus from Mukilteo to Seattle (where it's all happening
)
Don't see a lot of potential for the Sounder North.
But I totally love the good public transit in the Seattle area ( aside from the confusing fare structure between Sound Transit, King County metro transit, and all )
If you go to Seattle or anyhwhere Tacoma-Bellingham , get an ORCA card and all the confusing transfer problems go away.
About the mudslides -- it is a big problem for BNSF -- and they reasonably try to pull in any public support they can get for their sound-side vulnerable mainline.
Another two feet of ocean rise, plus the mudslide problems -- some really wealthy rail barons will be out a lot of money.
Hoping for a longer-term solution on the Seattle - Everett line -- but
Time will tell
