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Sound Transit in the Seattle, Washington, area held an open house on 17 May 2018 at its site for a new light-rail Operations and Maintenance Facility in Bellevue, Washington. The Operations and Maintenance Facility East (OMF East) is needed to support expansion of the region’s light-rail system in the city of Bellevue.
As part of its design build contract for the facility, Hensel Phelps will deliver a temporary bike and pedestrian trail connection and identify portions of the construction staging area that can be developed for transit-oriented uses in the future. The Sound Transit Board will take separate action to manage surplus property and approve those development proposals. The budget for this project is US$449.2 million.
With construction of new light-rail service to Northgate, Lynnwood, Bellevue, Mercer Island, and the Redmond Technology Center, the light-rail system is expected to grow from its current 20 to almost 50 mi by 2023, and the existing light-rail fleet will more than triple in size from 62 to 214 vehicles.
To guarantee a safe, clean, and comfortable ride for Sound Transit passengers, the vehicles need to be cleaned every night and regularly pulled out of service to perform routine maintenance. The new eastside facility will supplement the existing Link OMF in Seattle, which supports light-rail operations and station maintenance for light-rail extensions approved by voters in 2008 and 2016.
Full article: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, Volume 13, Number 3, September 2018 | 
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