SEATTLE, March 12 (UPI) -- A mudslide halted rail passenger service Friday morning on the line between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.
Officials said trains will be halted on the line until Sunday, the Seattle Times reported. Under federal regulations, freight can move but passenger service is banned for 48 hours after a slide as a precaution.
Both Sound Transit, which operates weekday commuter trains between Everett and Seattle, and Amtrak, which has trains connecting Seattle and Vancouver, planned to use buses to get riders from Everett to Seattle.
Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the track, said the slide occurred in Richmond Beach, south of Edmonds, Wash., and about 20 miles north of Seattle. He said mud and rocks spilled down a hillside after heavy rain in an area where slides have occurred in the past.
The slide covered about 20 feet of track.
