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BART Stops Adding New Trains for at Least 3 Months

By kcubas · January 8, 2021



Delivery of shiny new “Fleet of the Future” trains on hold for at least 12 weeks while BART works out software & wheel issues.

Thanks to the Mercury News for letting us know that BART has paused their delivery of new “Fleet of the Future” trains due to software glitches and reliability issues putting it’s $2.6 billion effort to swap out a decades-old fleet of trains on hold.

Thanks to glitches in the on-board automatic train control system, the “new” cars routinely stop while in service and can’t move again until the train operator reboots the systems. This results in a 5-10 minute delay.

As of January 8, 2021, BART is expected to have 290 “Fleet of the Future” trains in service and 618 “legacy” cars.

Additionally, in wet weather the train’s wheels can develop “flat” spots when stopping, so the cars need to be removed from service so that the wheels can be resurfaced.

The pause in delivery of new trains will begin on January 8 and is expected to last at least 12 weeks.

This doesn’t appear to have any impact on the number of trains in service, only that older “legacy” cars will be decommissioned at a slower rate.

BART will temporarily stop accepting new cars

Read more at BART

BART will temporarily stop accepting delivery of new Fleet of the Future (FOTF) rail cars beginning January 8, 2021 to allow the manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, the time to take steps to improve the cars’ reliability and availability, and to alleviate rail car storage constraints at BART’s maintenance yards.

One of the issues to be resolved is related to software in the on-board automatic train control system. The new cars routinely stop while in service and will not move until after the Train Operator reboots the system, resulting in a five-to-ten-minute delay.

In addition, when trains are stopping under wet or rainy conditions, the cars’ wheels can develop flat spots. When this occurs, the cars need to be removed from service so that the wheels can be resurfaced.

While neither issue impacts the safety of existing FOTF cars currently in service, they can impact service reliability and car availability.

BART is expected to have 290 FOTF cars by January 8th and, combined with 618 legacy cars, BART will be required to retire legacy cars to create room for additional FOTF cars. Given the pause in delivery of new

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San Francisco curbside pickup of Christmas trees scheduled for January

By kcubas · December 28, 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (BCN) – City officials on Saturday reminded residents that San Francisco’s curbside pickup of holiday trees will take place in early January.

Last year, the city chipped more than 500 tons of Christmas trees into mulch. 

“Not only does this ensure that discarded holiday trees will be put to good use as earth-friendly mulch, but disposing of them properly also helps keep our neighborhoods clean and safe and reduces fire hazards,” said Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried.

After removing tinsel, decorations, nails, plastic bags, stands, and lights from the trees, residents can place them next to blue recycling bins the night before their scheduled collection day, between Jan. 4 and Jan. 15. 

Any tree more than 6 feet tall should be cut it in half. Trees should not be put into plastic bags.

The trees will be chipped in San Francisco and turned into mulch at a Recology composting facility.

The holiday collection schedule is available on www.Recology.com. 

For more information, email Recology at CustomerServiceRecologySF.com or call the company at (415) 330-1300.

Recology San Francisco | Recology San Francisco

SF City Hall Lights Up for Christmas Night Friday, December 25, 2020 – 4:56 pm to 11:59 pm

By kcubas · December 24, 2020

San Francisco Christmas: How to Spend a Holiday by the Bay

Every evening at sunset, over 220 state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures illuminate City Hall’s exterior. Normally, a soft white glow shows off the play of light and shadow on the full façade and dome. Frequently, special plaza façade lighting schemes honor or celebrate events, seasons, and holidays.

City Hall will be lit up in green and red most nights in the lead up to Christmas and immediately afterward.

City Hall Holiday Lighting Schedule

  • December 13-25: Red/green – Holiday Season
  • December 26: Red/green/black – 1st Night of Kwanzaa
  • December 27-30: Red/green – Holiday Season
  • December 31:  Gold – Happy New Year!

The schedule is always tentative for the holiday lights and subject to change when there are special events and the building is lit in honor of those. 

Be safe!