‘Transformative’: Amazon and Microsoft celebrate opening of light rail line between Seattle and Eastside

Amazon and Microsoft are on board with the Crosslake Connection.

With this weekend’s grand opening of Sound Transit’s Link light rail service over Lake Washington between Seattle and the Eastside, the region’s biggest tech employers touted what it means for their employees and others.

“I’ve lived here 32 years and I’m incredibly excited to see this thing come to life,” David Zapolsky, chief global affairs and legal officer for Amazon said in a LinkedIn video post. “It’s going to make things easier for our employees, it’s going to make things easier for residents, it’s going to give access to jobs for people around the region. It’s going to be transformative. Everybody should try it out.”

Zapolsky said Amazon employs 50,000 corporate workers in Seattle, and 15,000 — and growing — in Bellevue.

“The ability to just hop on a train and get from downtown Seattle to downtown Bellevue in 30 minutes is game changing,” he added.

• Previously: GeekWire rides the world’s first floating-bridge train — Seattle tech commutes will never be the same

Microsoft President Brad Smith detailed his company’s role in making the transportation milestone a reality. The company also employs about 50,000 workers in the region.

“Microsoft embraced this vision early on, more than two decades ago, because we understood what it could mean for our employees and for the communities where we live and work,” Smith wrote in a Microsoft blog post. A timeline tracking the journey of rail service to Redmond starts in 2002 with Microsoft donating 10 acres of its headquarters campus land worth $8.7 million for a light rail station that would eventually become the Redmond Technology Station. 

Smith posted a fun video on his LinkedIn and Instagram feeds that includes an appearance by the Seattle Mariners’ racing salmon mascots. In this instance, they race to catch the train from Microsoft to T-Mobile Park, with Smith along for the ride west over the lake.

The opening Saturday of the final 7-mile segment of Sound Transit’s 2 Line and the Crosslake Connection drew thousands of people to the new Judkins Park station in Seattle’s Central District for a kick-off celebration. Gov. Bob Ferguson, Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and other officials cut a ribbon to officially open the line.

Sound Transit projects the fully integrated 2 Line will serve about 43,000 to 52,000 daily riders in 2026, with trains running every 10 minutes from approximately 5 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.

Monday morning’s commute will be the first test for how workers on both sides of the lake respond to the new transportation option.