Smartphones can perform a million tasks, self-driving cars are just around the corner, and AI is everywhere… yet floppy disks – those relics of the 1980s – are still clinging to relevance in some places.
The Japanese government finally waved goodbye to floppy disks in administrative procedures earlier in 2024, and the German navy also decided it was time to cut ties with the ancient storage technology.
Now, in an equally overdue move, San Francisco transportation officials are bidding farewell to the floppy disk-driven control system of the Muni Metro, a move that isn’t going to be cheap.
Five generations ahead
The city’s Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) board has approved a $212 million contract with Hitachi Rail to upgrade the Muni Metro’s train control system.
The existing system, installed in 1998 in the Market Street subway, still runs on software stored on five-and-a-quarter inch floppy disks, which must be loaded every morning. Additionally, it uses an antiquated wire loop communication system that is prone to disruptions.
According to Muni officials, the current system was expected to last 20 to 25 years and moves data slower than a dial-up modem. Some parts of the control system are no longer even made, and it cannot be extended outside the subway, along the on-street Metro corridors.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the upgrade, for which Hitachi will provide 20 years of support, is part of a broader $700 million project to modernize the Muni Metro’s control system. By late 2027 and into 2028, the new communications-based system, which uses Wi-Fi and cell signals to track train locations with precision, will be in place.
While the current control system is limited to the Market Street subway and Central Subway, the upgraded system will cover the entire network, including surface lines. Muni Director of Transit Julie Kirschbaum described the new Hitachi system as “five generations ahead” of the existing one and touted it as the best train control system available on the market.
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