How did an SUV get onto (and off) the Mount Baker light rail platform?

A red Mazda SUV slowly rolled up to the Mount Baker light rail station Tuesday evening, a surreal sight that threw Seattle's light rail system into chaos for a few hours and stirred up a viral sensation that has yet to answer how, exactly, it happened.

An investigation continues into why the driver ended up there, and here's what we know.

Around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, a lone woman in a Mazda CX-5 with Utah plates pulled up to the southbound platform of Mount Baker Station. Perplexed passengers on the platform recorded the situation as a transit safety officer waved her down, and she easily got out of the SUV.

Sound Transit officials said they're still figuring out where she entered the trackway, but a story on the Seattle Transit Blog reported a few eyewitnesses saying she had entered where the tracks are at-grade and on the same level as the roadway at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Walden Street - about a half-mile south of the station.

While there are a few videos showing the SUV at the platform, evidence of how the vehicle made its way there is scant. But the transit blog attempts to re-create the situation after the driver passed from the section of tracks embedded in concrete to where it pulls away from the street grade, a surely bumpy ride if you're not in a train. Here, the tracks begin an ascent to the elevated Mount Baker Station, which is about 35 feet off the ground.

This leaves a deep gap between the tracks that should stop vehicles from continuing up the ramp to the elevated station," according to the blog post. "One witness mentioned a loud screeching sound when the car was on this section of the track, so the part of car was likely dragging on the tracks."

Yet, soon enough, the vehicle arrived at the station.

"I keep imagining people waiting for the train and seeing this car roll up," said Amy Enbysk, a Sound Transit spokesperson.

As the situation became clear, Sound Transit replaced 1 Line trains with shuttle buses between Sodo and Othello stations, cleared the Mount Baker platform and began work to remove the vehicle. The horseshoe-shaped 2 Line that serves the Eastside and Lynnwood was not affected.

The Seattle Police Department is leading the investigation, according to Sgt. Patrick Michaud. The driver, a 70-year-old woman, told police she was following GPS instructions for navigation, which led her onto the tracks, Michaud said. During the interview with police, Michaud said she didn't appear to be impaired but "took extended periods of time to answer questions and was very confused."

After being evaluated by the Seattle Fire Department, the driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center. Michaud did not confirm if she was arrested or cited for her actions.

After the platform was cleared, Sound Transit brought in what's called a speed swing, a multifunctional maintenance vehicle with retractable wheels allowing it to travel on road or rail.

Usually these vehicles are used by railroads to move heavy machinery, but in this case it was to "remove a Mazda that had gotten extremely lost," according to Henry Bendon, another Sound Transit spokesperson, in a social media post for the agency.

The speed swing fully lifted the SUV from the tracks, and backed down to the same intersection where witnesses saw the driver enter. By around 8:30 p.m. the tracks were clear, and inspectors searched for any sign of damage.

With a clean bill of health, the tracks opened and 1 Line service resumed at 9:15 p.m. - just in time to ferry people leaving the Mariners game.

"We were working really hard to make sure service was restored before the end of the Mariners game," Enbysk said. "We did hear about long lines after the game … but it takes some time (to fully restore service) after a service disruption."

According to a database of crashes involving Sound Transit vehicles, between 2009 and 2025 there were 160 collisions but none where a driver entered a trackway like this, and either hit or got hit by a train. That doesn't mean there haven't been other times a driver entered the trackway briefly and got out, but there's no real way to know.

"This is definitely a first for the agency," Enbysk said. "It's a very unique situation and we don't want it to happen again. We ask drivers, please, do not drive on the trackway.

Staff writer Mike Lindblom contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 4:49 PM.