San Francisco Muni shuts down rail service after reopening

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 8/26/2020 Rail News: Passenger Rail
The shutdown occurred just days after the agency reopened rail service following five months of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Photo – SFMTA

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) yesterday announced it will shut down all Muni Metro light-rail lines and replace them with bus service for several weeks due to overhead electrical line failures and because an employee tested positive for COVID-19. 

The shutdown occurred just days after the agency reopened rail service following five months of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A critical component of the overhead infrastructure that powers Muni light-rail vehicles has failed twice this week, SFMTA officials said yesterday in a press release. A fix has been identified that must be implement before bringing light-rail back fully again.

Meanwhile, SFMTA learned on Monday that an employee who works on the real-time deployment of Muni trains and buses has tested positive for COVID-19. 

The employee worked in SFMTA’s Transportation Management Center, considered the nerve center of the city’s transit system. With the related quarantining required based on contact tracing, SFMTA determined that it does not have sufficient staff resources to effectively manage rail service, agency officials said.