Sound Transit Activates 2 Line Crosslake Light Rail Corridor Connecting Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond

Unifying Puget Sound Rail Transit Across Lake Washington

SEATTLE, Washington — Sound Transit has officially commenced full passenger rail operations across the landmark Link 2 Line Crosslake Connection, achieving an unprecedented engineering feat by operating passenger light rail across Lake Washington over the Interstate 90 floating bridge. The completion of this pivotal east-west transit spine creates an unbroken 34-mile light rail network linking Downtown Redmond, Bellevue, Mercer Island, and downtown Seattle directly through to Lynnwood City Center.

The activation of the Crosslake Connection fundamentally reshapes commuting across the Puget Sound region. By interconnecting the Eastside with Sound Transit's legacy 1 Line at the International District/Chinatown (CID) Station, riders can now traverse Lake Washington without transferring buses or navigating chronic bottlenecks along regional highway corridors. Transit planners project the completed line will carry more than 50,000 daily passengers across the lake while eliminating tens of thousands of single-occupancy vehicle trips from the I-90 corridor.

Boosted 4-Minute Train Frequencies and Shared Corridor Capacity

Along the high-density shared transit alignment between International District/Chinatown and Lynnwood City Center, the interlining of the 1 Line and 2 Line has effectively doubled passenger capacity. During morning and evening peak commuting windows, modern four-car trainsets now operate every four minutes, virtually eliminating platform wait times for commuters traveling between Seattle's commercial core, the University of Washington medical campus, Northgate, and Snohomish County.

Each Series 2 light rail vehicle deployed across the corridor is manufactured by Siemens Mobility and powered entirely by clean, renewable electrical energy contracted through regional utility partnerships. The trains incorporate energy-efficient regenerative braking systems, real-time dynamic digital passenger information displays, automated audio stop alerts, and universal low-floor boarding ramps to ensure seamless accessibility for passengers with mobility devices and bicycles.

Catalyzing Transit-Oriented Commercial and Housing Growth

Municipal leaders in Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond emphasized that the unified 2 Line serves as an economic catalyst for regional job growth and sustainable housing. Around newly opened stations—including Bel-Red/130th, Overlake Village, and Downtown Redmond—dozens of master-planned mixed-use developments have delivered thousands of transit-adjacent affordable housing units, retail plazas, and high-tech office spaces.

With East Link rail operations securely established, Sound Transit construction crews are continuing civil infrastructure advancements on upcoming Link extensions toward Federal Way, West Seattle, and Tacoma, advancing the agency's long-term mandate to establish an interconnected, carbon-neutral mass transit network across Western Washington.