A northbound Link light rail train packed with Apple Cup fans stalled between University of Washington and Roosevelt stations Sunday evening, trapping riders — including young children, babies, and people using wheelchairs — on crowded cars for almost two hours as temperatures rose and the lights periodically went dark.
The mechanical issue struck at about 5:50 p.m. Sunday, just after the No. 17 Huskies beat Washington State 24-10 in the 118th Apple Cup, according to CBS Sports. As reported by KOMO News, Sound Transit said the train experienced a mechanical issue and stopped shortly after leaving University of Washington Station, stranding passengers on packed trains for almost two hours.
Krystal Bryant, who boarded a packed northbound train from the university campus with her family, told KOMO the car she rode in held young children, babies, and people in wheelchairs. Passengers experienced loss of power and air conditioning at times, and the train went dark for stretches of about five minutes, per the outlet's report. Riders also said they could not hear any announcements explaining what was happening, and passengers were crammed throughout the train.
Passengers Force Their Way Onto the Tracks
At some point during the standoff, train doors opened, allowing passengers to move and get off, and some walked through the tunnel and onto the tracks, the station's report says. Under Sound Transit's own emergency procedures, when riders trigger emergency door releases and step onto active tracks inside tunnels, central dispatch must halt all train traffic in both directions until safety crews sweep and clear the area — a protocol the agency detailed after a nearly identical November 2021 breakdown in the same tunnel corridor near UW Station, according to Sound Transit.
Responders eventually moved the disabled train, and rescue trains transported passengers from the stalled car, a process the same outlet reported took about one hour. Sound Transit also ran a shuttle train on the southbound track between University of Washington and Northgate stations while crews worked. The agency said normal operations resumed at about 8:20 p.m.
A 2021 Precedent in the Same Tunnel
Sunday's meltdown echoes an eerily similar failure five years earlier: on November 26, 2021, a northbound Link train lost power in the same tunnel section near UW Station following that year's Apple Cup, leaving hundreds of fans stranded in the dark without working intercoms and prompting unauthorized passenger evacuations onto the tracks, according to KIRO 7. A subsequent investigation found a severed cable had caused that breakdown, prompting then-CEO Peter Rogoff to publicly apologize for the agency's communication failures.
Sound Transit said it is investigating the cause of Sunday's malfunction and has not said whether the disruption is related to a July incident in which an unsecured rooftop hatch on a Series 1 light rail vehicle opened while in motion and damaged overhead power lines near the same station, per KIRO 7. That failure suspended Link service between Northgate and Capitol Hill for 15 hours, and Sound Transit had said afterward it planned to inspect hatches more regularly to prevent similar failures.
A Rough Summer for Link Reliability
Sunday's stall was hardly an isolated stumble. The Apple Cup breakdown followed a string of summer service disruptions on the Link system, including an empty train derailment at Chinatown-International District station on August 1 that shut down downtown tunnel service for over two hours and disrupted operations for 14 hours, a brake failure on July 20, and a power outage between Beacon Hill and Tukwila on July 21, according to The Urbanist.
The rocky stretch stands in contrast to Sound Transit's performance just weeks earlier, when the agency carried record ridership during Seattle's six FIFA World Cup matches in June and July without major systemic failures by temporarily suspending routine maintenance and running around-the-clock service, per Seattle Transit Blog. Regular monthly maintenance windows resumed the week of July 27, just days before the derailment and stalls that followed.
Fewer Alternatives, More Crowded Trains
Part of what made Sunday's stall so miserable for fans was the lack of any backup option. Ahead of the 2026 college football season, King County Metro permanently eliminated its dedicated game-day express shuttle buses to Husky Stadium from the Eastgate, South Kirkland, and Redondo Heights park-and-ride lots, directing fans instead to rely on Sound Transit's Link network, according to King County Metro.
Sunday's Apple Cup was also the first in the rivalry's history where Eastside fans could ride light rail directly to Husky Stadium via the 2 Line Crosslake Connection over Interstate 90, which opened in March, as Hoodline previously reported. That expansion, paired with the loss of Eastside shuttle buses, funneled tens of thousands of additional fans directly onto the same 1 Line and 2 Line trains already carrying home a sold-out crowd from the first Sunday season-opening Apple Cup in the rivalry's history.
Bryant urged Sound Transit to explain disruptions or fix problems before sending trains out after major sporting events, and she said she wants more transparency from the agency about what goes wrong and why. Sound Transit has not yet said what caused Sunday's mechanical issue, and it remains unclear whether the stall is connected to the July hatch failure or reflects a separate mechanical problem in the same stretch of tunnel that has now failed twice after Apple Cup games five years apart.
