Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recently announced that Link light rail service will begin on July 18, connecting downtown Seattle and Tukwila.
The launch will begin a new era for public transportation in the Puget Sound region, with work underway to expand the first 15 miles of light rail service to a 55-mile regional system over the next decade and a half.
The line includes stops in Downtown Seattle, SODO, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley neighborhoods and Tukwila. Frequent bus connector service will carry light rail passengers between Tukwila and Sea-Tac International Airport starting July 20 until the opening of direct airport service in December.
Beginning on July 20, Link trains will run from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 6 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.
Construction of light rail between downtown and the University of Washington is underway, with a scheduled opening in 2016. With the passage of the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure in November 2008, light rail is scheduled to reach all the way to Lynnwood, Redmond's Overlake area and the Star Lake/Redondo area near Federal Way by 2023.