The future is now (er, next year): Sneak peek at new Muni trains

Starting next year, you might see a few of the new light-rail trains on your commute, and SFMTA has just released photos of what these trains look like! Squee. It’s so the future.

SFMTA is set to replace all the trains by 2028, which seems a long ways away. But the first of four initial trains are in production now, scheduled to arrive by the end of this year for testing in real life in 2017.

Why are these trains better? According to the SFMTA:

Compared to our current fleet, which started service in 1996, the new Siemens trains should be much more reliable. The new trains have systems that are proven to go significantly longer in between breakdowns and, therefore, require less maintenance. The new Siemens design is projected to run an average of 59,000 miles without breakdowns, which is more than double the minimum of 25,000 miles originally specified.

Officials also said that the new trains would have a lot fewer problems raising the steps up and down. So, yay!

Take another look:

H/t: SFist
Photo via SFMTA