The Monday night and Tuesday afternoon commute for J-Church and N-Judah Muni passengers was not a pleasant one thanks to a motorist who drove their vehicle into the Church and Duboce portal, damaging a track switch early Monday morning.
Aaron Bialick, who works for the SFMTA’s communications department, wrote on the transit agency’s blog that the motorist “nearly destroyed” the track switch.
Bialick explains that a track switch guides the Muni trains from one track to another. In this case, the track switch automatically moves at the Church junction to help guide the J-Church and N-Judah trains to crossover to the inbound rail tracks.
Crews were able to fix the track switch and run tests before the peak of the morning commute on Monday, but the switch failed again late Monday afternoon at 3:20 p.m., wrote Bialick.
The delay lasted through the evening commute until 7:40 p.m., according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
As crews worked on repairing the track switch again, passengers had to take other Muni Metro lines to Church Station to connect to the J-Church and N-Judah for service on the surface. Bus supplemental service was also provided.
On Tuesday at 10:50 a.m., the same track switch failed again. The transit agency provided the same service plan as it did on Monday. Crews were able to repair the track switch by 12:35 p.m.
Motorists driving into Muni tunnels is not uncommon, but Bialick wrote that the SFMTA have installed a number of measures to prevent these incidents from happening that can cause major delays to thousands of Muni passengers:
“To prevent these incidents, in recent years we’ve installed measures like lit signage and raised bumps, and we’re exploring additional options.”
Bialick added that this was the first time a motorist had driven into the Church and Duboce Portal since the SFMTA installed a brightly lit “Do Not Enter” electronic sign.
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you can post all the signs in the world but if people don't read them or can't read them, they don't work. likewise you can talk talk talk about the problem but if the DA, the city, and the SFMTA don't aggressively prosecute and publicly make clear this isn't acceptable, it will continue as it has so far this year with a record number of incidents at the Sunset Tunnel and here. Suck on it, Muni rider - that's the message Ed Lee and "DA" Gascon and the SFMTA have for you.
⛔ Perhaps another 5 "Do Not Enter" signs are needed here. #ThereIFixedIt
It's hard to tell from this story, but I hope the driver was identified and his/her insurance paid for these repairs and added operating costs!