A Seattle woman drove her red SUV onto Sound Transit’s elevated Link railroad tracks at Mount Baker Station on Tuesday, leaving the vehicle stranded beside the platform about three stories above the street. Her actions forced part of the train’s operations to shut down for the evening. The driver was a 70-year-old woman who claimed she had been “following her GPS directions.”
Sound Transit suspended service between SODO Station and Othello Station after the vehicle drove onto the tracks and blocked trains. The alert went out at 6:16 p.m. Regular service did not resume until about 10:30 p.m. Witnesses said the driver entered the southbound track at street level at the at-grade intersection of MLK Way and Walden Street. The first stretch of track north of that intersection is embedded in concrete, which would have allowed a car to drive on it before the surface changed. It ended up going around 1,500 feet along the rail right-of-way.
Sound Transit suspended 1 Line service between SODO Station and Othello Station on Tuesday, June 2, at 6:16 p.m. after a vehicle drove onto the tracks at Mount Baker Station and blocked trains, according to KOMO News. Regular 1 Line service did not resume until about 10:30 p.m.
How Did the Woman Get on the Train Tracks?
Seattle’s Link Light Rail service was suspended after a driver somehow ended up on the tracks at Mount Baker Station, an elevated platform roughly 30 feet above street level. pic.twitter.com/9uOlvsMvJZ
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 3, 2026
The vehicle, a red Mazda SUV with a Washington plate, stopped close enough to the platform that riders could see the grille and front wheel from a few feet away. Witnesses described the driver entering the southbound track at the at-grade intersection of MLK Way and Walden Street and continuing toward the elevated station. From there, she simply kept driving.
The first 270 feet of track north of that intersection are covered in concrete and could be driven on without immediately getting stuck. After that, the track changes to a section with a gap between the rails, where one witness reportedly heard a loud screeching sound as the vehicle continued. The car then continued to travel roughly another 1,200 feet before stopping at the platform.
Seattle police said that the driver was a 70-year-old woman who said she had been following GPS directions when she drove onto the tracks. Police said she didn’t seem intoxicated but did appear confused, and that she took an extended amount of time to answer officers’ questions. By the time Seattle Fire crews arrived, she had gotten out of the vehicle on her own and was stable. She was taken by ambulance to Swedish Cherry Hill to be evaluated further.
Questioning the Woman’s Actions
This woman had to have turned onto the tracks like 1500′ south of this @ S Walden St, drive for like 500′ at grade where she could clearly see she was not on the road, and then continue up onto the elevated superstructure all the way to the station, going the wrong direction to…
— Joshua Prets (@ThePretsky) June 3, 2026
The woman’s account of the situation has been disputed among those who have been following the story online. One fellow Mazda CX-5 driver noted that the vehicle’s ride was “so smooth” she likely had “no idea” she had driven on to train tracks. A humorous notion, but others questioned how she could have confused the terrain for more road, or how she couldn’t have just turned around.
“The tracks transition from street level to elevated a half mile away,” one X user wrote. “Did she not think to put the car in reverse?” Another dubious reader pointed out that where she was before the tracks meant she could “clearly see she was not on the road” and that she was going the wrong direction on top of everything. “There is no way this woman can be allowed to drive a vehicle,” they added.
The tracks transition from street level to elevated a half mile away. Did she not think to put the car in reverse?https://t.co/qpaGyBMSSD pic.twitter.com/pYbcyn93Ko
— Dr. Judgmental Shoelace, PhD. 🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@DocKilmer) June 3, 2026
After everything had gone down, Sound Transit crews used a swing loader to lift the vehicle in a rope harness and carry it back down the tracks toward Walden Street. Before the lift could happen, crews had to ground the overhead wire and move the equipment along the rail right-of-way.
Sound Transit later announced that regular service on both the 1 Line and 2 Line had resumed by about 10:30 p.m., though riders were told to expect residual delays.