Major Muni Metro Delays From Castro Station – Update
Photo by Chris Rogers
Update:
2:52 p.m.:
The latest from SFMTA:
As of 2 p.m., crews are still on the scene at Castro Station assessing the damage to the vehicle and the infrastructure, making the necessary repairs and working to restore normal operations.
Inbound (toward downtown) Muni Metro service may be slower than normal, but is operational.
The N Judah and J Church lines are operating normally.
Muni Metro customers traveling outbound from downtown should expect delays. The K Ingleside, L Taraval and M Ocean View lines are still switching back outbound (away from downtown) to inbound (towards downtown) at Castro Station.
Bus shuttles continue in operation between Castro and West Portal stations for customers traveling outbound in the subway past Castro Station on the K, L or M lines. West of West Portal station, Muni Metro light rail vehicles (LRV) continue in service.
10:30 a.m.:
On Twitter, @dbrownusc took a photo of the crowd waiting for the shuttle at the West Portal station.
Photo by @dbrownusc
9:32 a.m.: Word from SFMTA:
As of 9 a.m., trains on the M Ocean View, L Taraval and K Ingleside lines traveling outbound at Castro station will have to switchback outbound to inbound. Bus shuttles are operating between West Portal and Castro stations.
The N Judah and J Church lines are operating on their normal routes, but are moving slowly.
Outbound service won’t likely resume for another four hours, reports SF Examiner and SFAppeal.
9:26 a.m.: Some outbound services have been restored after this morning’s derailment outside of the Castro station at 7:39 a.m., but there are still major delays all morning. Currently the outbound trains are running only to Castro Station (@francesabc7). Bus bridges are still in place between Castro and West Portal stations in both directions.
Riders are understandably irate, with an epic argument on the bus (@imkj), body slamming, and major f-bombs (@Chanslor). Were you on or near the derailed train outside the Castro station this morning? Let us know.
9:15 a.m.: From ABC7’s traffic reporter Frances Dinglasa on Twitter @francesabc7:
Paul Rose, MUNI spokesperson, said some OB service restored. but there are still major delays expected all morning.
Original post:
8:51 a.m.: A derailment outside the Castro Station this morning is causing major Muni delays all over town, reports various media sources and Twitter. According to Transit 511 and the KQED blog:
On Friday, February 11th at 7:39am, SF Muni reports a derailment of an SF Muni train on the outbound portion at the Castro Street platform. Currently there are 16 shuttles secured to operate from Van Ness and Market to West Portal, and shuttles are being sent to the M, L and K lines
Trains are still not heading outbound, and SFMTA has not released information about the cause of the derailment, KTVU and SFAppeal report.
“No direct Muni Metro service past Church St station. Muni running coaches West Portal to Van Ness. Inbound service is also subject to delays,” according to KCBS on Twitter.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress here and on Twitter. Please comment or @ us on Twitter (@munidiaries) to let us know if you have information from your commute this morning.
Thanks, SF MTA, for calling the delay reason “computer problems” before it morphed into a “derailment”.
KTVU was reporting “computer problems most of the morning, maybe that is part of the problem, no one at SFMTA can tell the difference between Computer problems & derailments?
Yeah very early this morning around 7:45 a.m. we got emails about “computer problems” but soon after we were receiving SFMTA announcements about a derailment. Glad no one was hurt.
Glad nobody was hurt, absolutely. But why did it happen in the first place? With its curved platform, Castro station is poorly designed and has ripped countless doors off of LRVs. I’ve been on about ten trains that lost communication with the train control software and slammed on the emergency brakes — all near Castro station. Likewise the stretch of tracks b/t Church and Castro is exceedingly bumpy in many of the streetcars. Modern, $4 million trains should not do the Jake Lamotta on your kidneys. Perhaps the MTA (or NTSB) needs to revisit the design and maintenance (or lack thereof) of that stretch of track.