SAN FRANCISCO Municipal Railway began through services to the CalTrain terminal at 4th & King Streets on August 22, when the N-Judah route was extended from Embarcadero. The through service from Ocean Beach replaces the route E shuttle which has served the extension since January 10.

Through running was delayed pending completion of a $70m resignalling of the Market Street subway by Alcatel Transport Automation, designed to increase capacity from 24 to 48 trains/h. Other services can now use the Embarcadero turnback sidings, replacing a scissors crossover in the running tunnel.

Muni is pressing ahead with public consultation for an extension from 4th & King (RG 4.98 p219), which was formally approved by the city’s Public Transportation Commission on June 23. The $405m first phase would see the 8·7 km extension along 3rd St and Bayshore Boulevard opening in 2003. Route J-Church would be extended to the Bayshore CalTrain station, with N-Judah running as far as Mission Bay.

Phase 1 also includes a maintenance depot known as Metro East and 25 new LRVs. Phase 2, on which work could start around 2008, envisages a cross-city subway to a terminus at Stockton & Clay in the city’s Chinatown district. o

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