Passenger Trains > "Seattle LRT high power lines turned on this weekend"

May 9 news blurb from RAILWAY TRACK & STRUCTURES Magazine:
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Seattle Link light rail high power lines turned on this weekend

As part of the preparations for Seattle-area Link light rail train testing this summer and passenger service in 2009, Sound Transit contractors will energize the new overhead electrical lines that power the trains in the Rainier Valley beginning May 9.

Link light rail construction began in late 2003 and is about 90 percent complete. The 13.9-mile rail line from Westlake Station to Tukwila/International Blvd Station opens in summer 2009, with a 1.7-mile extension to Sea-Tac Airport opening by the end of 2009. Light rail trains are currently making test runs between Sound Transit’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in SODO and the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. Light rail trains are scheduled to make test runs through the Rainier Valley to Tukwila by the end of this summer.

May 8 news blurb from RAILWAY AGE Magazine:
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Seattle ponders streetcar network

Seattle's Department of Transportation is considering the addition of at least four streetcar routes, emanating from the current 1.3-mile South Lake Union Streetcar line which began operation last December.

Chosen as possible routes are: a 3.5-mile line to the University District from Westlake Center, extending the South Lake Union line northeast via Eastlake Avenue East, the University Bridge, Northeast Campus Parkway and up University Way to Northeast 50th Street; a 4-mile line through downtown on First Avenue, connecting the King Street Station area and extending north to Seattle Center; a 4.4-mile line from Westlake Center to Fremont and Ballard, extending along the west side of Lake Union, across the Fremont Bridge and up Leary Way Northwest to 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street; and a 2.8-mile line from Pioneer Square to First Hill and Capitol Hill, extending up South Jackson Street from Fifth Avenue east to Boren Avenue and Broadway, as far north as East Aloha Street.

Construction of any or all of the proposed lines would require some form of public/private partnership, Seattle city officials have said, following the approach used to construct the South Lake Union line.

I do not see how a streetcar line can be built on South Jackson Street up to Boren from 5th Avenue... King County METRO had originally proposed to extend the existing track for the Waterfront Streetcar at the 5th & Jackson terminous down to Central Base for carbarn storage and maintenance.. A distance of about 1.6 miles from the current end-of-track.. METRO claimed that the local Asian community fought the proposal because of possible noise, yet METRO continues to operate large heavy diesel buses and trolley buses on the exact same route as an everyday route for going to and from the Base. So what the heck is the difference ??
I know this because I've driven METRO buses on that very route...

By the way, the three beautiful Melborne streetcars from the Waterfront Line are stored in a METRO warehouse on 6th Avenue, directly across the street, opposite Central Base, which is at 1270- 6th Avenue, S. in Seattle... Thought you just might like to know...

Cheers.

KRK