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San Francisco Cable Cars Shut Down For 10 Days For System Repairs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco's iconic cable cars will stop running for 10 days starting Friday while they undergo repairs.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said Wednesday that instead shuttle buses will run along the three cable car routes.

The agency says it needs to get the manually-operated cable cars off the street to rehabilitate the gearboxes that power the system that started in the 1890s.

The gearboxes spin the 30-foot tall wheels that pull the 12-miles of steel cables under San Francisco to lift the cable cars up city hills.

Officials say the work is part of an upgrade project that started in 2017 to repair heavy equipment that's been in service since 1984. It is estimated to cost about $6 million.

 

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