More Wednesday morning rail news:
San Francisco Muni to resume service on parts of two lines, but underground routes to remain closed
San Francisco Muni will resume light rail service on one line later this month, and add another line in January, but the underground portion will remain closed into spring 2021. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has announced the J Church line will begin operation between Church/Duboce and Balboa Park on Dec. 17, and the T Third will resume service from Sunnydale to Embarcadero on Jan. 23. The subway portion of the system requires repairs to fix splices, which connect the overhead wiring, a problem discovered during the abortive attempt to reopen the light rail system in August [see “Digest: MBTA chooses builder …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 25, 2020]. The 2-mile Twin Peaks Tunnel also needs major work to address problems with the work completed just two years ago [see “Digest: San Francisco Muni could spend ‘tens of millions’ …,” News Wire, Nov. 20, 2020].
NJ Transit to try new technologies to address COVID-19
NJ Transit has selected four companies to test new technologies to address COVID-19 safety concerns with a multi-week testing program, two of which will be deployed on the agency’s rail systems. Knorr Merak’s three-sage air filtration and purification system will be tested on a light rail car and commuter railcar. Piper will provide a video analytics and real-time passenger count system for integration with mobile apps; it will be tested on the River Line. Also to be tested are a LED antimicrobial light by Vyv, to be tried on buses and in NJ Transit corporate buildings, and wearable technology by Strongarm that emits physical distancing alerts and can be used to collect data for contact tracing. It will be tried on select floors of NJ Transit Headquarters in Newark. More information is available here. Technologies that prove to be successful in testing may be chosen for an expanded year-long pilot program.
