Seattle Union Station Redux

[jis]

Also another problem for Neo-Union Station: accessing the maintenance facility. Since Neo-Union Station will be underground, they'll have to build an underground maintenance facility like the LIRR Hudson Yards

LIRR West Side Yard was very much over ground ( in a shallow trench) until the West Side Yard development built a bunch of stuff on a platform built atop the yard.

There is a vague plan to do the same over Sunnyside Yard too, someday.

 

[sttom]

King Street is nowhere near its capacity from an operating standpoint. Let’s look at it like this.

Track Nine: Used exclusively for Private Cars and Company Service cars. With the new restrictions against PVs that traffic has almost dried up.
Track Eight: I’ve never boarded a train from this track or saw one board here.
Track 7: this track is used however I mostly have seen it used for southbound Cascades when there is a train expected soon or currently on five.
Track 6: I’ve seen some trains on it but not on a super often basis.
Track 5: the Thru track. This track sees the Coast Starlight because it’s long and needs the longest platform, the Empire Builder, and the Vancouver Cascades. Now since track 4 and 3 have been converted into Sounder exclusively it does put five a bit stretched as the only Amtrak thru track. It used to host Rocky Mountaineer but the Seattle train is now cancelled indefinitely.
Track 4+3: Sounder exclusivity.

From an operating perspective King Street has plenty of space to grow. I’ll have to post it’s old departure board from 52 so you can grasp the waiting room setup at peak times too.

Also an all day Sounder Service could easily be turned into a through service. That would at least open up some platforms to through service which would make more space. Also, how would capacity become an issue? An hourly Cascade, an hourly express and a 30 minute Sounder would be 4 trains per direction per hour. And there are what 2-3 through tracks based on a satellite image. I don't think the region could support more than that level of service anytime soon.