Christmas Eve Cable Car Service Disrupted By Minor Derailment, Crash
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Two San Francisco Municipal Railway cable car lines were impacted Wednesday by separate incidents involving a derailment and a minor collision, a Muni spokesman said.
No one was injured and there was no property damage caused by the derailment, which occurred around 11:30 a.m. when a vehicle pulled in front of a Powell/Mason cable car at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Mason and Greenwich streets in the city's North Beach neighborhood, Muni spokesman Robert Lyles said.
When the vehicle pulled in front of the cable car, its operator had to quickly apply the emergency brake, causing the cable car to go off of the rails. There was a brief shutdown as crews got it back on the tracks and moving, Lyles said.
About a half-hour earlier at 10:57 a.m., a cable car on Muni's California Street line struck a vehicle at the intersection of California and Polk streets, according to Lyles.
He said the cable car had trouble stopping, possibly because of damp rails, and struck a car despite the operator applying the emergency brake. No one was injured in the collision, which occurred at a very low speed, Lyles said.
He said there was no significant damage to the cable car and that the vehicle involved in the crash drove away before police and Muni investigators arrived at the scene.
Bus shuttles took passengers along the two cable car lines during the service disruptions. Both lines were back up and running as of about 12:20 p.m., Muni officials said.
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