A pair of Friday mudslides between Everett and Seattle, Washington disrupted BNSF Railway's freight mainline, as well as Amtrak and Sounder passenger service.

The slides, one located between Golden Gardens and Carkeek parks in Seattle and a second near Edmonds, covered BNSF Railway's one main track, blocking only that track and leaving a second main track available for use. BNSF Spokesman Gus Melonas reported that the slides were detected by an electronic slide detector and involved boulders and trees.

Melonas said that the 40-plus trains normally routed over the line were able to use the second track, although some delays were incurred to freight traffic. Passenger traffic was not allowed to pass the slides as requirebed by the railroad for safety reasons for a 48-hour period, which expires at 01:00 PST on Sunday morning.

Amtrak runs six trains through the area daily and more than 700 passengers ride the Sounder commuter rail service.

Bus service will be used during the outage for the four north-south trains, two each between Seattle and Bellingham and between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Melonas said. For the two daily runs between Chicago and Seattle, a route that goes through Everett, passengers will be bused between Seattle and Everett, Melonas said.