Here’s when two Redmond light rail stations will open this spring

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REDMOND — Sound Transit’s next two light rail stations, at Marymoor Village and in downtown Redmond, will open May 10, an extension that provides almost instant trips to Microsoft, and a ride to downtown Bellevue in less than 20 minutes.

The new $1.5 billion, 3.4-mile Eastside-only segment, which runs mostly next to Highway 520, connects the flagship Microsoft campus (at Redmond Technology Station) with thousands of newer apartments in the lowlands north of Lake Sammamish, where many tech workers live.

“Redmond is changing from a suburb to a city,” said Redmond Mayor Angela Birney, a transit board member, during the announcement Thursday at the Marymoor station. “By moving away from a car-centric society, and providing other travel options with housing, we’re helping create complete neighborhoods.”

Light rail tracks should reach farther west to Mercer Island and Seattle next winter, or whenever crews finish building and testing tracks on I-90 between South Bellevue Station and Seattle’s International District/Chinatown Station.

This spring’s two new stations are part of Sound Transit’s 2 Line, where an eight-stop local route opened in 2024, from the South Bellevue to Redmond Technology stations, along with two popular walk-bike bridges over Highway 520.

Transit staff said the May 10 grand opening, on a Saturday, will likely resemble last year’s launches in downtown Bellevue and Lynnwood, when dignitaries gave speeches around 11 a.m., and crowds could enter trains at the new stations at midday.

Redmond light rail will expand with 2 new stops

New Marymoor Village and Downtown Redmond stations will provide quick connections to the Microsoft campus and Bellevue.

Sources: Esri, Sound Transit (Reporting by Mike Lindblom, map by Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times)

Trains on the Eastside line arrive every 10 minutes, from about 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sound Transit says scheduled trips from Marymoor Village to downtown Bellevue will take 15 minutes.

The Redmond extension includes a 1,400-stall parking garage at Marymoor Village, positioned for use by commuters living in Sammamish. Highway 202 leads to the ground-level station.

Hundreds of housing units are newly or nearly built south of the train stop, which is also near a mosque and a future affordable-housing site. The station will be a destination for people heading to concerts, Cirque du Soleil, bicycle races, soccer, cricket and other events at King County’s vast Marymoor Park, where drivers typically slog through congestion at park entrances.

The Downtown Redmond Station is elevated, next to a walk-bike trail. From there, people can venture to shopping at Redmond Town Center, or to small restaurants and blocks of midrise apartments, at densities similar to Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Many will combine the train with a bike ride on the regional Sammamish River Trail to Bothell, or beyond.

This is the first big project funded by the Sound Transit 3 tax measure of 2016. It has been in planning since the early 2010s, and Redmond outperformed most communities in integrating rail, new housing and station access. The station opening is slightly behind the 2024 debut voters were promised.

So far, the Eastside starter line has attracted 3,000 to 6,000 average daily passengers, and it’s common to see only a few people per railcar.

Ridership ought to improve as connections grow, and the city of Redmond, where about 80,000 people live, encourages another 20,000 housing units by midcentury.

Meanwhile, construction is nearing the finish line at Federal Way, where a three-station project is on track to open next year.

Sound Transit now predicts that 63,000 to 83,000 riders per day will take the 2 Line, after the Eastside trains connect to Seattle, the University of Washington and Lynnwood. Combined with the 1 Line west of Lake Washington, including the Federal Way segment, there would be 145,000 to 189,000 daily light rail passengers by late 2026, spokesperson Rachelle Cunningham said. Those systemwide trip counts are comparable to a busy bend in an urban freeway.