USA: Hitachi Rail has won a contract to modernise signalling on San Francisco’s Muni light rail network using its SelTrac communications-based train control equipment.
The contract includes a 10-year service support agreement with an option for 10 further years.
The Muni network has a mixture of light rail, streetcars, heritage vehicles and cable-hauled cars, operating on-street and in tunnel. The Train Control Upgrade Project will provide a single network-wide system to regulate the flow of vehicles across the light rail network, including historic vehicles.
According to network operator San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, TCUP is planned to be completed in seven phases. The first would see CBTC installed on the street-running sections of the light rail network for the first time, initially covering the Embarcadero and Third Street corridors.
The second phase would see the equipment rolled out in the Subway tunnel sections of the network, while the remaining phases would expand coverage to the on-street branches of the J Church, K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Ocean View, N Judah and T Third routes.
The initial installation and deployment is planned to start in late 2026, with the tunnel fit-out planned to start in 2027-28 and the remaining on-street resignalling beginning in 2028-29. Programme completion is expected in 2034, SFMTA says.
‘Modernising the Muni network of light rail metro trains and historic streetcars with an industry-leading signalling technology is an important step for the city of San Francisco. Hitachi Rail looks forward to expanding our long-standing partnership with SFMTA, by delivering our SelTrac CBTC technology to enhance mobility, sustainability, and passenger experience’, said Ziad Rizk, Director of Urban Rail Signalling, Hitachi Rail.
‘We’re grateful for the vision and foresight of the board of supervisors and former Mayor Breed, who gave us permission to pursue a negotiated, long-range contract, and we’re eager to start our next-generation partnership with Hitachi Rail’, said SFMTA’s Acting Director of Transportation, Julie Kirshbaum.
