SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s Transportation Authority board has postponed $62 million in funding for new light rail vehicles, reflecting a series of problems with the new Siemens equipment. And the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority has announced a dramatic safety measure with the new equipment, requiring operators to lock the rear doors open so passengers won’t be caught and dragged by the trains.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports on both developments.
The edict to keep the doors open came after an incident last week in which a woman’s hand was trapped by a closing door and she was dragged several feet before freeing herself. It is one of at least four such cases of passengers being caught by the doors since the cars began operation last October.
Meanwhile, the Siemens cars have had other problems: broken sheer pins, which link cars together, have forced Muni to limit the use of the new equipment to one-car trains; and issues with flat wheels, attributed to use of the cars’ emergency brakes, currently have 18 cars awaiting repairs.
Those issues, plus concerns over the doors, led the transportation authority board — whose members are also city supervisors — to delay the $62 million, intended to speed the purchase of another 151 light rail cars.
