The old ways are the best ways. With opening a little more than a month away, Sound Transit shuts down the new line for a day of track repairs and leveling. The vehicles traveling down this portion of the northbound track have experienced a rough ride. And looking at how much the track is going to be reshimmed, its no wonder! This sort of stuff is typical on new construction as the guideway has settled over the 2 years of construction and operations. This process is VERY labor intensive, however. It requires manual unbolting of the track, using hydraulics to lift the track into vertical gauge, taking various measurements to ensure proper superelevation, then finally re-shimming and re-bolting down. Once complete, trains will have a smooth ride! Taken with permission. And, of course, thanks to the folks at Sound Transit for the educational tour of direct fixation track!
