‘Transformation’: Amazon and Microsoft celebrate the opening of a light rail line between Seattle and the Eastside
Amazon and Microsoft are on board with the Crosslake Connection.
With this weekend’s grand opening of Sound Transit’s Link light rail service over Lake Washington between Seattle and the Eastside, the region’s largest tech employers revealed what it means for their employees and others.
“I’ve been here for 32 years and I’m very excited to see this happen,” said David Zapolsky, Amazon’s chief global affairs and legal officer in a LinkedIn video post. “It’s going to make things easier for our workers, it’s going to make things easier for residents, it’s going to make people everywhere have job opportunities. It’s going to bring change. Everyone should try it.”
Zapolsky said Amazon employs 50,000 corporate workers in Seattle, and 15,000 — and growing — in Bellevue.
“The ability to jump on a train and go from downtown Seattle to downtown Bellevue in 30 minutes is a game changer,” he added.
- Previously: GeekWire rides the world’s first floating bridge train — Seattle’s commute will never be the same
Microsoft President Brad Smith explained his company’s role in making the transportation milestone a reality. The company also employs about 50,000 workers in the region.
“Microsoft embraced this idea early, more than two decades ago, because we understood what it could mean for our employees and the communities in which we live and work,” Smith wrote in a Microsoft blog post. The timeline that traces the journey of rail service to Redmond begins in 2002 when Microsoft donated 10 acres of land for its headquarters worth $8.7 million for the light rail station that would eventually become the Redmond Technology Station.
Smith posted a fun video to his LinkedIn and Instagram feeds featuring an appearance by the Seattle Mariners’ salmon mascots. In this instance, they run to catch the train from Microsoft to T-Mobile Park, and Smith to ride west over the lake.
Saturday’s opening of the final 7-mile stretch of Sound Transit’s 2 Line and Crosslake Connection drew thousands of people to the new Judkins Park station in Seattle’s Central District to celebrate the groundbreaking. Gov. Bob Ferguson, Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and other officials cut the ribbon to officially open the line.
Sound Transit projects the fully integrated 2 Line will serve about 43,000 to 52,000 daily passengers by 2026, with trains running every 10 minutes from about 5 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.
Monday morning’s commute will be the first test of how workers on both sides of the pond react to the new transportation options.
