By Christian Leonard : sfchronicle – excerpt
Passengers of a Muni train walked to their next stop at Forest Hill after the train unexpectedly stopped Friday afternoon in the Twin Peaks Tunnel.
While the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency initially said the stop, which was announced at about 1:40 p.m. Friday, was possibly due to an issue with the overhead power system, officials later identified the cause as vandalism-related, spokesperson Erica Kato said Saturday…
Stephen Martin-Pinto, a San Francisco firefighter and candidate for District 7 supervisor who was on the stopped train, said in an interview that the car stopped shortly after it left Castro Station. There was a “big shower of sparks” followed by a “loud thud or what seemed to be a crash,” he said.
After about 10 minutes, the train operator said passengers would have to exit and walk to Forest Hill Station, Martin-Pinto said. He added that though he later learned from another passenger that a rescue train was on its way, the announcement “definitely didn’t get around to everybody.”
The walk to the station was especially difficult for the older people who were on the train, because the wires and cables in the tunnel present several trip hazards, Martin-Pinto added. He said it took him and another passenger, who both walked with the older riders, about 45 minutes to reach the station.
“It just seemed like a really poorly thought out plan, if this is the plan,” he said. “I mean, there’s so many vulnerabilities.”…(more)
Meter Madness 