The incident happened on Tuesday 2 June at Mount Baker Station, where Sound Transit's 1 Line light rail runs at street level along Martin Luther King Jr Way before ascending to an elevated guideway. The driver, a woman of 70, told Seattle Police that she had been following her GPS when she turned onto the tracks at the intersection of MLK Way and Walden Street, where the tracks run at road level. The transition from street to rail guideway is not instantaneous. She drove a significant distance along the northbound tracks before the Mazda CX-5 became stuck.
Bystanders filmed it. The footage shows the SUV moving along the rails with a degree of composure that surprised more than a few people watching, until the moment it did not.
Sound Transit issued a service alert at 6:16pm. The 1 Line was suspended between SODO Station and Othello Station. The 2 Line was also affected. Shuttle buses were dispatched to bridge the gap. Before emergency crews could remove the vehicle, the overhead power supply to the tracks had to be shut down entirely. A swing loader was eventually used to lift the Mazda in a rope harness and carry it back along the guideway toward Walden Street. The car was removed just before 8pm. Service on both lines resumed around 10:30pm after final safety checks, with Sound Transit warning of residual delays.
The driver had exited the vehicle by the time emergency crews arrived. She was taken to hospital in a stable condition for evaluation. Seattle Police confirmed she was not intoxicated. Officers noted she appeared extremely confused and took an unusually long time to answer questions, prompting speculation online about possible cognitive difficulties beyond simple GPS misjudgement. No charges have been filed.
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The online response divided fairly predictably between those who found the whole sequence darkly funny and those who asked the more pointed question: how is it possible for a car to drive onto a light rail guideway in the first place? The entry point at MLK Way and Walden Street is, by design, accessible from the road, which is where trains transition from road level up to the elevated guideway. For pedestrians and cyclists who legitimately cross the route, that access makes sense. For a confused driver following GPS directions, it is apparently not sufficiently distinguished from a turn.
Sound Transit has not commented on whether any physical barriers or signage changes are planned following the incident. Seattle's light rail network has expanded significantly in the past decade, and the points where it intersects with street traffic are numerous. Most drivers encounter them without incident. One did not, on a Tuesday evening in June, and spent several hours ensuring that about four miles of commuter rail line were inoperational while a swing loader carried her SUV off the tracks in a harness.
The GPS, for what it is worth, has not been reached for comment.
Sources
- KOMO News — Driver followed GPS onto tracks, prompting 1 Line suspension near Mount Baker, police say
- KING 5 News — Car drives onto elevated light rail tracks in Seattle
- MyNorthwest — Driver follows GPS onto Seattle light rail tracks at Mount Baker Station, disrupting service for two hours
- Carscoops — Mazda Driver Followed Her GPS Onto Train Tracks And Shut The Whole Line Down
- Futurism — Woman Follows GPS Instructions, Somehow Drives Her Car Onto an Elevated Seattle Rail Track
- Guessingheadlights — Woman Drives SUV Onto Train Tracks, Claims She Was "Following Her GPS" (entry point location detail)
