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Showing posts from April, 2023

Muni Metro Fix-It Week Maintains the Subway Infrastructure

Muni Metro Fix-It Week Maintains the Subway Infrastructure By Jessie Liang Track crew removing old rail at the Van Ness crossover  The first Muni Metro Fix-It Week of 2023 was a resounding success in March, and it’s also the first Fix-It Week since the SFMTA launched the Central Subway in early January of this year. Here is a behind-the-scenes video recap . Fix-It Week is the SFMTA’s quarterly effort to optimize work time by closing Muni Metro early for critical maintenance. The SFMTA’s Maintenance of Way (MOW) teams did an excellent job maintaining the subway and preventing future breakdowns.  Fix-It Week helps the Muni Metro get a 20% improvement in speed and about a 20% improvement in reliability in the subway. It takes fewer minutes to take the N Judah from the Outer Sunset to Embarcadero now than it did in 2019.   From March 16 to March 22, 2023, the Muni Metro Subway between Embarcadero and West Portal closed at 9:30 p.m. to provide SFMTA maintenance crews an extended windo

Track Work Through the Years

Track Work Through the Years By Jeremy Menzies San Francisco’s unique rail system brings together 150-year-old cable cars, historic electric streetcars of all shapes and sizes and modern light rail vehicles.   Many trades across the SFMTA play a critical role in keeping the system moving. This month we look back in time at the work of one such group, the Track Department. While the lines and technologies of SF’s street railway have changed over the years, some of the base-level work, tools and skills needed to maintain our tracks are the same today as they were over 100 years ago.  A decade before Muni was founded, the United Railroads Company (URR) dominated San Francisco’s transit system. URR owned and operated nearly 400 miles of street and cable car track all over the city. To keep this network in service, their track department was fully equipped to handle any possible construction or repair job.  All hands were on deck for this job outside the Ferry Building in 1912. Here,

SFMTA Retires the Orion, First Hybrid Bus in Cleanest Transit Fleet

SFMTA Retires the Orion, First Hybrid Bus in Cleanest Transit Fleet By Clive Tsuma San Francisco’s first low-emissions electric hybrid Orion bus Muni’s Orion hybrid buses are headed for retirement as we phase in a brand-new batch of El Dorado hybrid electric buses . It’s the end of an era for San Francisco’s first low-emissions electric hybrid fleet that travels the city’s toughest routes. Orion hybrid fleet tackles Muni’s toughest routes starting in 2007 The Orion buses have been a testament to the SFMTA’s commitment to the latest green transportation technologies . Muni, which previously had relied on a diesel bus fleet in coordination with our electric trolley bus fleet,   transitioned to its first 30-foot Orion diesel hybrid-electric buses in 2007. This was the start of the SFMTA’s addition of these lower emission vehicles to one of the greenest fleets in the country , ensuring better air quality city wide. The Orions brought the agency closer to achieving its goal of an al

This Week is Bike & Roll to School Week!

This Week is Bike & Roll to School Week! By Crysta Highfield Artwork by Ai Yamada, SFUSD student and winner of 2023 art contest, showing a girl bicycling down a road away from the viewer and featuring three cats. Additional text reads Bike & roll to School Week, San Francisco, April 24-28, 2023. Hey. San Francisco! It's time to lace up your shoes, put on your helmets, and get ready to roll for Bike & Roll to School Week ! Every year, our Safe Route to School program puts on this event to celebrate students getting around on their own power, whether by bike, wheelchair, scooter or skateboard, walking , or any other form of active transportation! This year’s celebration is April 24-28, at schools citywide. San Francisco Safe Routes to School is a partnership of city agencies and nonprofits, led by the SFMTA, that helps make walking and bicycling to school safer and more accessible for all San Francisco children and youth and to increase the number of families who

Saudi Arabia’s quest for strategic autonomy

Saudi Arabia, a nation with a foreign policy which has always centred around Iran, is now reaching out to old rivals, holding talks with new enemies and seeking to balance between great powers, all while trying to transform its economy at home Click here for more... from #Bangladesh #News aka Bangladesh News Now!!!

Explained | On Finland’s journey to join NATO

Why has Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? What led to Finland’s decision of staying neutral during and since the Cold War? What is the Paasikivi line? How has Russia responded to this move by its neighbour? Did the Russia-Ukraine war influence Finland’s decision? Click here for more... from #Bangladesh #News aka Bangladesh News Now!!!

North Korea warns 'offensive action' over allies' drills

North Korea has threatened unspecified “offensive action” over the expansion of U.S. military exercises with rival South Korea as President Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea flew to Seoul for talks with allies over the North’s growing nuclear threat Click here for more... from #Bangladesh #News aka Bangladesh News Now!!!

Humza Yousaf | Into the future

Scotland’s new First Minister faces great challenges as he has to unite the party, rebuild public support for its independence campaign while addressing economic headwinds  Click here for more... from #Bangladesh #News aka Bangladesh News Now!!!