# Seattle King Street Station to Light Rail



## Long Train Runnin' (Jun 20, 2010)

After making a joke with my dad about the complexity of the connection between LAUS and LAX I realized I failed to research the connection in Seattle.

We will be arriving on the CS and have a hotel out by the airport, where is the closest light rail station? (the stadium?)

How long is the ride?

Thanks!


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## jis (Jun 20, 2010)

Long Train Runnin said:


> After making a joke with my dad about the complexity of the connection between LAUS and LAX I realized I failed to research the connection in Seattle.
> We will be arriving on the CS and have a hotel out by the airport, where is the closest light rail station? (the stadium?)
> 
> How long is the ride?
> ...


The light rail station for Seattle King Street is International District/Chinatown. Also see Google Map.

The ride is about 35mins.


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## D T Nelson (Jun 20, 2010)

jis is correct.

Let me add that, to get from King Street Station to the International District Station, exit the main door on the west side of King Street Station, turn left (south) and walk to the Weller Street footbridge, and turn left (east) and take the bridge. You have your choice of broad stairs or an elevator to get up to the footbridge. Take the bridge over the railroad tracks to 4th Avenue S. Cross 4th Avenue S at the crosswalk, keep going straight (east) through the pedestrian plaza between the two buildings, and the entrances to the International District Station will be on your left (north). To get on a southbound Link light rail train, you will want to take one of the entrances on the west side, to Bays C and D. (Once you are down on the platform, it won't matter whether you are at Bay C or Bay D, as the trains are long enough you can board from either.)

Here is a map/diagram of the International District Station, and the construction company that built the footbridge has some nice pictures of it.

The Weller Street footbridge is also the way one would get from King Street Station to the Sounder (heavy rail commuter) platforms.

The footbridge is your best bet, but, alternatively, you could walk straight (west) out the door of King Street Station, go halfway up the block on S King Street, take the curving staircase attached to the building on your right (north), walk north on the sidewalk at the east side of the building until you come to S Jackson Street, turn right (east) on S Jackson Street, cross 2nd Avenue Extension S and 4th Avenue S, and after you pass the front of the old Union Station, the entrances will be on your right (south). Or if you didn't want to wrestle your luggage up a staircase, you could walk S King Street to 3nd Avenue S, turn right (north) and take it one block to S Jackson Street, turn right (east) on S Jackson Street, and continue as previously stated.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 20, 2010)

Word of warning -- that elevator always smells of pee in my experience.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jun 21, 2010)

Thanks everyone looks like its a pretty simple connection


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## acelafan (Jun 22, 2010)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Thanks everyone looks like its a pretty simple connection


I did this in January...it is a very easy connection. I walked out the left side of the Amtrak King St station and up the curving staircase as noted previously. You walk east two blocks and the light rail station is right there....easy as pie, have fun!


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## D T Nelson (Jun 22, 2010)

Just in the past few days they have started demolition on the old out-of-service escalator at King Street Station, the first step to restoring the "grand staircase" from the waiting area direct to Jackson Street. When the staircase is restored, taking it up to Jackson Street would be the shortest way over to the International District Station.

The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce has some action photos of the demolition work.


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## alanh (Jun 23, 2010)

Ah, they're removing the old Electric Stairs.


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## rtabern (Jun 23, 2010)

As others said... it is a very easy connection from Amtrak King Street to the light rail system. I have done it twice now and will be doing it a 3rd time in September.

Since I just started a new job not too long too here... I dont get tons of vacation time. (That will come in 2011) However, my absolute favorite train to ride is the Coast Starlight... but I live in 2,000 miles away in Wisconsin. Since I dont have tons of time off quite yet to do a whole cross-country loop everytime I want to do #11 or #14... I have to fly to the West Coast and back to ride the Starlight.

The hotels by the airport are just SO MUCH cheaper than downtown Seattle... so when #14 gets in... I walk to the International station there and take the right rail to the airport or Tukwilla stations.

The trick is... get your pass at street level before going down the elevator there!! I made that mistake the first time and had to go back up to street level to get the pass.

Even at 9pm or 10pm, I never had any problems on the light rail -- and there are several hotels within walking distance from the Seattle Airport terminus of the light rail.


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## AlanB (Jun 23, 2010)

rtabern said:


> The trick is... get your pass at street level before going down the elevator there!! I made that mistake the first time and had to go back up to street level to get the pass.


Actually if you're going once or twice a year, then the trick is to get yourself an ORCA card and then you don't have to worry about a ticket.


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## D T Nelson (Jun 23, 2010)

alanh said:


> Ah, they're removing the old Electric Stairs.


Yes, they are. I went down there a couple of hours ago and found one set of the Electric Stairs lying on the pavement:







I had never before seen an escalator without a building attached. Interesting.


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## Eric Willig (Jun 24, 2010)

D T Nelson said:


> alanh said:
> 
> 
> > Ah, they're removing the old Electric Stairs.
> ...


Nuprecon, LP [http://www.nuprecon.com] is proud to be providing the demolition and abatement services associated with this historic renovation project. Here is another photo (taken by Nicole Purrier Photography on June 23, 2010).






Eric Willig


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## GoldenSpike (Jul 4, 2010)

alanh said:


> Ah, they're removing the old Electric Stairs.


Back in the 4th grade we lived fairly close to King St. station. We spent some of our time using the metal

divider between the up-down escalator as our awesome slide in between passenger train

watching.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jul 4, 2010)

I guess I will mention our connection was a breeze. Walked out the door up the steps across the street saw the station almost headed down the staors when in the back of my head I remebered the machines were upstairs. Loaded up 2 ORCA cards I ordered months ago and we were on our way.

Thanks guys!


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## printman2000 (Jul 18, 2010)

I am currently planning on where to go on our yearly trip next summer (2011). I have almost made the decision to go to Seattle. I am a little worried about the arrival time (and possible late arrival) of the CS into Seattle and needing to get to a hotel late at night with my family and luggage.

How is the transfer to light rail at night for a family with younger kids (13 & 10) rolling four suitcases?


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2010)

Craig: Have you considered spending a night/nights in PDX (the site of ChezTraveler West :lol: ), then taking a daylight Cascades to SEA. We did this last year, great scenery and if you havent yet got to ride a Talgo it's a nice trip!  Jim


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## printman2000 (Jul 18, 2010)

Guest said:


> Craig: Have you considered spending a night/nights in PDX (the site of ChezTraveler West :lol: ), then taking a daylight Cascades to SEA. We did this last year, great scenery and if you havent yet got to ride a Talgo it's a nice trip!  Jim


I have considered it now! And am leaning towards your suggestion. Thanks!

(Jim, seems you really need to set it to automatically login  )


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## JayPea (Jul 18, 2010)

The Portland-Seattle Cascades run is a great run with great scenery. Well worth it if you can do it!


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## D T Nelson (Jul 19, 2010)

printman2000 said:


> I am currently planning on where to go on our yearly trip next summer (2011). I have almost made the decision to go to Seattle. I am a little worried about the arrival time (and possible late arrival) of the CS into Seattle and needing to get to a hotel late at night with my family and luggage.
> 
> How is the transfer to light rail at night for a family with younger kids (13 & 10) rolling four suitcases?


I don't think it would be bad. It will still be light at 8:45, scheduled arrival time of the CS. (Sunset was at 9:00 tonight, almost a month after the solstice.) I think I would recommend the Weller Street route over to the light rail station, rather than the Jackson Street route, because the Weller Street route has an elevator.

The light rail runs until 12:30-ish in the morning, with 10 minute frequencies until 10:00 and 15 minute frequencies after that. Here is the schedule information.

But, unless you are staying at a hotel out by the airport, which I would only recommend if you are getting on a plane the next morning, I'm not sure I'd recommend taking light rail. If you are staying downtown, the light rail only goes about a mile north of King Street Station, and might not stop near your hotel. And by the time you paid for two adult and two youth fares (here is the fare table), it might just be easier and only slightly more expensive to hop in one of the cabs waiting outside the entrance of the station.


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## AlanB (Jul 21, 2010)

D T Nelson said:


> But, unless you are staying at a hotel out by the airport, which I would only recommend if you are getting on a plane the next morning, I'm not sure I'd recommend taking light rail. If you are staying downtown, the light rail only goes about a mile north of King Street Station, and might not stop near your hotel. And by the time you paid for two adult and two youth fares (here is the fare table), it might just be easier and only slightly more expensive to hop in one of the cabs waiting outside the entrance of the station.


The OTOL group is in Seattle right now. Several people took a cab from King Street to a Courtyard hotel 1 stop north on the light rail line at Pioneer Sq. They spent $5.50 before tip for that short cab ride. The light rail fare for a family of 4 would be $6.50 to any of the downtown stations. And one can board a bus for free, if one chooses not to ride the LRT.

And there are plenty of hotels along the LRT line downtown.


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## printman2000 (Jul 21, 2010)

Google has finally added the light rail stops to their map. That will sure make it easier for me looking for a hotel near one. Though, since we will probably rent a car, I will probably not look at downtown hotels since they usually do not have free parking.


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