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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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May/June 2019
RAIL CLEARANCE KEEPS TRAINS RUNNING ON TIME
Seattle-area commuters hopping the Sound Transit light
rail service can look forward to smooth sailing thanks
to some expert line clearance work by the Davey Tree
Surgery Company.
Sound Transit operates and maintains miles of light rail and
commuter train tracks throughout the Seattle area. The
client partnered with Davey Surgery to manage vegetation
clearance on a section of the light rail line, where mature
trees posed a possible service interruption to the trains.
Jeff McCormick, account manager, Seattle City and Light
and Snohomish PUD accounts, said Sound Transit officials
needed Davey Surgery to prune or remove trees, as
necessary, within a 5-mile section of track.
The partnership involved having an on-site coordinator from
Sound Transit to monitor the work and maintain constant
communication with the client's command center to be
aware of any train traffic, McCormick said.
"There was a combination of lift work and manual climbing
work for this project," McCormick said. "We had to work
outside of heavy commute times too, so we had to start
a little bit later in the morning after the major morning
rush was over."
The work posed a specific hazard, aside from working
alongside active train tracks, that the Davey crew had to
be aware of at all times.
"We were pruning and handling removals not just to provide
clearance for their guideways and lift decks the trains run
on, but also for the catenary wire that runs up above the
trains," McCormick said. "The system that powers the trains
is 1,500 volts of direct current, so there was an electrical
hazard present."
A crew from the Seattle City and Light account managed
the work, which lasted about a month. The job involved
careful coordination with several Seattle-area municipalities.
A section of the line that runs through an environmentally
sensitive greenbelt area remains under consideration for
permitting.
"We had to coordinate with several different property
owners as well," McCormick said.
VISION
A Sound Transit Link light rail train travels through Seattle. In addition
to rail clearance, Davey crews pruned and removed trees around
station grounds in Auburn and Puyallup, Washington, to provide
clearance for pedestrians and parked cars, bus traffic and buildings.
Photos courtesy Sound Transit.
