Twin Peaks Tunnel
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| West Portal Station, at the western end of the Twin Peaks Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | |
| Location | San Francisco, California |
| System | Muni Metro |
| Start | Eureka Station |
| End | West Portal Station |
| No. of stations | 3 (2 open, 1 closed) |
| Operation | |
| Opened | February 3, 1918[1] |
| Owner | SFMTA |
| Operator | San Francisco Municipal Railway |
| Character | Light rail |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 2.27 mi (3.65 km)[1] |
| No. of tracks | 2 |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Electrified | Overhead lines, 600 V DC |
| Tunnel clearance | 25 ft (7.62 m)[1] |
The Twin Peaks Tunnel is a 2.27-mile (3.65 km)[1] long light rail transit/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California, United States, running under Twin Peaks.
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[edit] History and background
When it was opened on February 3, 1918,[2] it was one of the longest railway tunnels in the world (Paris Métro's line 1, opened in 1900, beat it by a few miles, as did some of the London Underground lines). The tunnel was the longest U.S. railway tunnel west of New York City.[citation needed]
The service through it has evolved from streetcars into light rail, and while there are longer light-rail tunnels elsewhere (such as Portland's Robertson Tunnel), the Twin Peaks Tunnel remains one of the world's longest streetcar or light-rail tunnels.[citation needed] It runs from the intersection of Market Street at Castro Street in the east to the West Portal neighborhood in the west. There are two stations along the tunnel, Forest Hill Station, near the western end, and the now disused Eureka Station, near the eastern end.
When the Muni Metro system and Market Street Subway was built, it was connected to the Twin Peaks Tunnel to be used by the K Ingleside, L Taraval and M Ocean View lines. The Eureka Station was closed, and the Metro lines stop at the nearby Castro Street Station instead. The original eastern entrance to the tunnel in the middle of Market Street at Castro was removed and new ones were placed on the side of the street further up the block, though no Metro or streetcar lines use them in regular service (they were used during construction of the Market Street subway and are occasionally used in non-revenue service such as rerouting trains around construction projects). Instead, trains continue directly from the Market Street Subway into the tunnel, without going above ground. A new station with high platforms, West Portal Station, was also built for the Metro lines at the western end of the Twin Peaks Tunnel.
[edit] Silent film of tunnel construction
In 2011, the Niles Silent Film Museum in Niles, California discovered a 19-minute silent film of the construction of the tunnel, produced by Baldwin and Howell Real Estate Co. of San Francisco. The film was restored with the help of the National Film Preservation Foundation. (See External Links.)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Wallace, Kevin (March 27, 1949). "San Francisco History - City's Tunnels". The City's Tunnels: When S.F. Can't Go Over, It Goes Under Its Hills. San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hgtun.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ West of Twin Peaks, Western Neighborhood Projects
[edit] External links
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Coordinates: 37°44′27.27″N 122°27′57.58″W / 37.7409083°N 122.4659944°W
