If successful, his lawsuit in King County Superior Court could delay the already late rail project, or bring it to a halt. Thomas, with the support of a prominent author of hiking books, says Sound Transit has downplayed environmental damage and the affect it could have on beach walkers. Sound Transit officials, however, counter that Thomas and his supporters, a loose-knit group called Save Our Shorelines, overstate the impact. Instead, they say work will be carefully engineered to improve environmental conditions along the shore, and that the trains will provide a vital alternative to congested roads. The commuter rail project has, to this point, been relatively free of controversy compared with the electric trains scheduled for construction in King County.
Officials say now there is no sign of cost overruns for that section.
But Thomas said people will be surprised when they see the work done to make way for more trains on the railroad line winding along the shores between Seattle and Everett. The stretch of beach isn't exactly wild, thanks to the railroad tracks running atop a wall of boulders serving as a rail bed. Sound Transit plans to widen the railroad bed along roughly a half-mile stretch of beach south of Mukilteo State Park, placing dirt and rocks 10 to 40 feet beyond the existing tracks into what is now beach or tideland, Price said. It would make room for a second railroad track on stretches where there is now one. Another stretch south of Edmonds would involve filling parts of a 1.9-mile section of beach.