San Francisco – Streetcar Overhaul Gets Green Light

Rail Transit Online – June 2009

The Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors on June 16 approved an $18.7-million contract with Brookville Equipment Corp. to refurbish 16 PCC streetcars, 11 purchased from the Newark City Subway and five long since retired from service in San Francisco.

The cars will provide more capacity on the F-Market & Wharves line and allow the start of service on the new E-Embarcadero line connecting Fisherman's Wharf and the Caltrain station at 4th and King streets. Since 2000, F line ridership has doubled to 20,000 daily hoardings.

Once the five-year overhaul is completed, Muni will have a fleet of 40 active cars including the PCCs and Peter Witt vehicles originally built for Milan, Italy. Brookville already has a $1.88-million contract to overhaul Car No. 1, San Francisco's first municipally-owned streetcar dating from 1912.

Meanwhile, an environmental impact study is nearing completion on a western extension of the F line to Aquatic Park and Fort Mason.