Back on September 24, 2025 at around 8:37 a.m. in the morning on San Francisco Muni’s N‑Judah train line, the train operator fell asleep. Onboard video shows his head down and then nodding off seconds before the track curves near the tunnel exit.
The train reached 50 miles per hour, blews through the Duboce/Noe stop, and halted about a half‑block later on Duboce Ave – cutting off a westbound car. Riders were thrown off balance. At least one passenger suffered a concussion and neck sprain. Multiple people fell, at around 2 minutes 58 seconds into the video. (The line typically averages 8–10 mph in regular service. 50 mph is the top end of operating speed for the Siemens S200 train car.)
This was reported as a “mystery brake issue.” Video showed otherwise. An investigation found no mechanical failure, and attributed the event to “operator fatigue.” The operator was placed on non‑driving status under their contract.
San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency says it’s reinforced fatigue training and is working with Siemens on location‑based speed‑limiting software so trains can’t overspeed in known tight curves. It seems like that should already have been in place.
It seems like release of onboard safety video after incidents should be routine, and as near-contemporaneous as possible. And it raises a question of why we still rely on people to control trains in this fashion. That’s only asking for disaster.
Just yesterday the driver of a Washington Dulles airport mobile lounge crashed it into the terminal. Surely San Francisco should be leading the way putting Waymo in charge of these trains, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority should follow suit?
100 %, thanks, Gary.
‘Safety first. Always.’
Anyway, so, Gary’s in-favor of automating everything and anything that can be, using ‘safety’ or ‘national security’ or ‘think of the children’ as the justification. Got it. Maybe it’s time. Is the tech ready? Perhaps it is.
But, let’s also talk about expanding the social safety net, adding universal basic income, because that a lot of folks who are not gonna have jobs soon. Sure, easy to pretend they’re just ‘lazy’ and ‘sleepy’ and need to ‘pick themselves up by their bootstraps’ and punch-down on the poor. Typical.
Then again. Do the billionaires all have their bunkers in NZ ready and exit-strategies mapped out? Are they confident those ‘guards’ are gonna remain loyal? ‘Do you hear the people sing?’
One word why humans are still in charge of transit trains. Unions.
And to be fair, running in mixed traffic for segments like Muni’s N does was until recently beyond the capability of autonomous vehicles.
Vancouver’s SkyTrain is the only fully automated subway/transit train in North America.
@1990 – thank you. I’ve been to Argentina and Uruguay 3x in the past 2 years, and I can vouch for the fact that more and more billionaires are building ‘escapeaways” for the if/when time comes. huge, self-sufficient estancias and blockaded ocean estates. Same with NZ and parts of Chile.
It’s a good thing population is on the decline in the Western world (and for that matter, east Asia, also) because what the heck would all the excess humans do if there are no jobs for them?
Leave it to some internet troll to throw out his political opinion. What the hell does politics have to do with this problem? NONE! The average BART operator will make about $76,000 a year. That’s not too bad unless you have 6 kids, two ex-wives and a ‘party all night’ lifestyle. That’s a personal problem…not a salary or political problem.
Yes, I used Vancouver’s Skytrain, this year, from the airport to the seaport: very nice and fully automated.
I used fully automated elevators nearly every day. I remember once in the ’70’s, some old city courthouse tower still had official elevator operators on duty. It was an odd experience.
I never understood why Vancouver’s Skytrain is the exception, while fully automated elevators are the standard.
And yes, the IAD planemates are fascinating living history in the historical town of Washington, D.C. Impossible to avoid when arriving on International flights. Hardly an international security measure.