2 Line (Sound Transit)

2 Line
The inaugural 2 Line trains at Bellevue Downtown station on April 27, 2024
Overview
Other name(s)	East Link Extension Blue Line
Status	In service
Owner	Sound Transit
Locale	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Termini	South Bellevue (west) Lynnwood City Center (west, 2025) Redmond Technology (east) Downtown Redmond (east, 2025)
Stations	8 (2024) 25 (2025)
Website	soundtransit.org/eastlink
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Link light rail
History
Opened	April 27, 2024
Technical
Line length	Initial segment: 6.6 miles (10.6 km)[1] New segments: 18 mi (29 km)[2]
Number of tracks	2
Character	At grade, elevated, and underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 1,500 V DC
Operating speed	55 mph (89 km/h)
Route map Legend Lynnwood Link Extension (2024) Lynnwood City Center Mountlake Terrace Shoreline North/185th Shoreline South/148th Northgate Roosevelt U District University of Washington Montlake Cut Capitol Hill Westlake University Street Pioneer Square International District/Chinatown 1 Line to Angle Lake Judkins Park Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge over Lake Washington Mercer Island East Channel Bridge over Lake Washington Phase 2 (2025) South Bellevue East Main Bellevue Downtown Wilburton Operations and Maintenance Facility East Spring District BelRed Overlake Village Redmond Technology Phase 2 (2025) Marymoor Village Downtown Redmond All stations are accessible This diagram: view talk edit

The 2 Line, also known as the East Link Extension, is a light rail line serving the Eastside region of the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system and runs for 6.6 miles (10.6 km) in the cities of Bellevue and Redmond. The initial segment serves eight stations between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology stations and opened on April 27, 2024. The full line is scheduled to open in 2025 and is planned to include 18 miles (29 km) from west to east and serve twelve stations in Downtown Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, and Redmond. The 2 Line will continue through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and share stations with the 1 Line through to Lynnwood City Center station.

The East Link project was approved by voters in the 2008 Sound Transit 2 ballot measure, with construction costs projected at $3.7 billion. The line will use the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, one of the Interstate 90 floating bridges, which was constructed in 1989 with the intent to convert its reversible express lanes to light rail. Early transit plans from the 1960s proposed an Eastside rail system, but preliminary planning on the system did not begin until Sound Transit's formation in the early 1990s.

The proposed alignment of the East Link project was debated by the Bellevue city council in the early 2010s, with members split on two different routes south of Downtown Bellevue; city funding for the downtown segment's tunnel was also debated and ultimately included in the final agreement. The alignment was finalized in 2013, after more than two years of debate, and delayed the beginning of construction to 2016 and the completion of the project several years beyond 2021. The full line will include the world's first railway constructed on a floating bridge and is expected to carry 50,000 daily riders by 2030.