Muni Plans to Launch “Double Berthing” in October, a Year Behind Schedule

Muni still hasn’t launched double loading of trains in its metro stations, a.k.a. “double berthing,” but says it could finally happen in October — a full year after the original launch date.

“The project is still in testing, to debug issues with the platform signs and trains,” said Muni Operations Director John Haley. “According to our project manager, they are progressing and hope to have it installed in October.”

Last September, Haley had told us that the train control software had been upgraded, and that computer-only simulations of allowing two trains to board passengers in a station simultaneously proved successful. The tests had “been positive with no bugs or glitches found,” Haley said at the time.

When they ran the live field tests, however, Muni managers apparently found some bugs.

Muni did, however, successfully start running a three-car train to make short runs in its metro stations last October, as promised.