Uh, that's a picture of Union Station.

How about a direct connection from Sounder to LINK without going up and down stairs?

Or is terra cotta more important.....?

sorry my bad. wrong pic!

And you spelled Murray wrong. And there's a subject-verb agreement problem in "King Street station is part of 54 rail projects that was awarded $2.4 billion ..."

Yes, Dear Leader, Terra cotta is more important than the pain it causes your flabby behind to climb those stairs. Besides, there's elevators on both sides if you really want to preserve that cottage cheese look.

As an Amtrak wife, I am quite pleased.

I am thrilled. This has needed to happen for years. That dropped ceiling is an embarrassment.

Awesome! Now can we please follow the lead of Vancouver, BC and Portland, OR and move the Greyhound station next to / in the same building as the train station instead of all the way across downtown?

Catalina, you slay.
The dropped ceiling has been removed, so the original ceiling is visible, and you can see how much work needs to be done to restore it. Many of the original chandeliers and sconces are up too. It's going to be lovely.

At least they removed the drop ceiling tiles so you can see how beautiful the building was, and how lovely it could be: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdot_photos…

@2, unless you want to cross the train tracks at grade, the most direct connection to the bus tunnel would be to go *down* under the Amtrak/BNSF mainline _and_ the Union Station parking garage's lower level and then up into the bus tunnel.

Tunnel boring machine!

Dino Rossi would call that an earmark. After all trains are 19th century technology.

At $300K per job, I don't know if I'd brag about the stimulus aspect of this of this project.

Comrade Rossi would rather this money went to his comrades in Nevada, instead of our state.

That's what a lack of earmarks means in the real world.

@12 the money is spent locally. Here in America, where it creates more local jobs, instead of outsourced to your comrades in Red China where it doesn't, like with the Deeply Boring Tunnel on SR-99 built by a foreign firm.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what was the work they were doing on it last year? I recall that King Street Station had scaffolding around the clocktower for much of last year. I thought they had already DONE a reno?

There's no "c" in Amtrak

Free lunch, brush up on your reading and math skills, and try not to be so naive.

I'm assuming you are getting the $300k figure by dividing 18 million by 60, which is what the article says are the amount of people currently employed. A closer reading of the article says that 116 jobs will be created, which comes to $142k per worker.

But under your simple-minded mathematic formula, you are assuming that there would be no material costs on the project, or perhaps that those handsomely paid workers would supply their own construction materials, engineering drawings, benefits, etc.

No access to LINK from Sounder.

Seems like a lot of money being spent for dross...but as someone who uses the Sounder, it doesn't address the critical issue of moving people off the train and on to other modalities of transportation.

Even if voters were to approve these funds, seems like a lot of effect Ruling Class waste, rather than helping the people -- many of whom are infirm, or older, and have to cram on the few elevators, or pull themselves up the stairs -- who use the service.

@17 we've got handtrucks to move your wheelchair with.

The ruling class is who is trying to shove your Billionaire's Tunnel down our throats (which we don't need and can't afford) as opposed to useful things like high speed passenger and freight rail which actually makes our entire region more efficient and cuts down on oil imports (since we won't need a Fourth Runway if we build high speed rail on the West Coast).

Amtrak intercity buses? WHOO HOO. Oops, I mean FUCK OFF.

What is this, three trains a day? Bailo is not often right, but in this particular case, while his understanding of some basic facts is of course deficient, it is, in fact, a ludicrous civic tragedy that no matter how many billions we spend this idiot city cannot get trains that are RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER into the same station. Instead, we have THREE train stations, one of which isn't even a train station anymore, right in a row, with no way to get between them.

But doing things the right way would have required foresight and interagency cooperation, neither of which are permitted in Seattle.

An underground tunnel between the two would make a lot of sense, which is why it's not being discussed.

Bailo's specific problem could be addressed by barring him from setting foot in Seattle (PLEASE GOD PLEASE), but that doesn't help the rest of the unfortunates.

Speaking of things that don't make a huge amount of sense: I notice that after Sounders games, the stadium always seems to let out just seconds after an Amtrak train arrives, meaning that all the train passengers either have to wade through 36,000 soccer fans or get into one of the waiting cabs, which then has to continue to wait for two hours while all the cars exit the parking lot.

#18

You and Fnarf have to start practicing for the Look-A-Like contest tomorrow if either of you hopes to take the $500 grand prize.

Here, sing along with me:

I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'
You got to be startin' somethin'
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)
It's too high to get over (yeah, yeah)
Too low to get under (yeah, yeah)
You're stuck in the middle (yeah, yeah)
And the pain is thunder (yeah, yeah)

@19 I hate that the damn train people always seem to take the cabs on the random nights we want to take one from either the Mariners or Sounders.

Ob pedant: It's Amtrak not Amtrack. Sheesh! You don't pay attention to your spell check? Those little red squiggles really do mean you've screwed something up.

How was this federal funding secured? Through an earmark?

I don't know what you mean by "close reading," @16. Even holding my phone an inch from my face, I see that this funding has added only 56 jobs over the previous funding.

As much as I appreciate historical renovations, I have to withhold my enthusiasm for this project, considering due to belt-tightening thousands have lost things like basic health care.

Again, free lunch, you are assuming that all of the 18 million will be spent on the wages of the laborers directly involved: there would be no construction materials needed, no permitting, no drawings for the workers to work from, just some sort of magical happening that results in a reconstructed building, Those people would be worth far more than 300k each per year, if you ask me,

But in the real world, construction projects are complex. Historical renovations with LEED certification and massive seismic retrofitting are even more complex. They involve scores of engineers, architects, specialized contractors and artisans, as well as highly specialized machinery and specific materials - this isn't just putting up some dumb townhouse complex, or mid-rise office building,

If you want to do some easy inaccurate figuring, go with the 1600 job figure, and base it on ten million. You'll be much closer to the actual number.

Last time I was in that station was to see Sonic Youth and Screaming Trees.

You're thinking of Union Station, dear. A charity I worked with threw a couple of big parties there. It was a dreadful place for music. Like having a party in a giant paper towel tube,

Fnarf, you'd have to tunnel underneath the BNSF mainline and get access either through Union Station (which I think is owned by Vulcan) or under it. It's not about the money. It's about What's in it for them to grant an easement?

And before you get too harsh about our less than elegant transfer options, try going between the LIRR and Metro North. Or between the Metra trains at Chicago Union Station and the El or the Chicago subway system. Or between BART and Caltrain. We're not alone in our mediocrity.

I just hope the "ticketing" fix means travelers won't have to line up to be individually handed seat assignments before boarding the train. Half the joy of a train is, you show up just before it leaves, and you walk onto it, and it leaves.

And agreed on the connection issues. If old European cities can have airports with intercity train stations in the airport, and center city train stations with a dozen tram lines right outside the front doors, then I don't see why American cities can't.

The only problem I had when taking the Sounder to King St. Station was I was unable to find out where to go to catch the LINK. Had to ask amtrak people.