Central Subway (San Francisco)

Central Subway

A test train at Union Square/Market Street in November 2022
Overview
Other name(s)	Third Street Light Rail Project Phase 2
Line	T Third Street
Location	San Francisco, California
System	Muni Metro
Start	4th Street portal 37°46′48″N 122°23′55″W / 37.7799°N 122.3985°W / 37.7799; -122.3985
End	Chinatown
No. of stations	3 (plus 1 surface as part of extension project)
Operation
Work begun	2012
Opened	November 19, 2022 (2022-11-19) (weekend-only shuttle service) January 7, 2023 (2023-01-07) (full service)
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Operator	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Character	Light rail
Technical
Line length	1.7 mi (2.74 km)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrified	Overhead line, 600 V DC
Route map
Central Subway highlighted in red Show interactive map Legend provision for future extension Chinatown Powell–Mason & Powell–Hyde California Street Union Square/​Market Street Powell Yerba Buena/​Moscone I-80 (James Lick Freeway) 4th and Brannan Caltrain 4th and King to Sunnydale This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

The Central Subway is a Muni Metro light rail tunnel in San Francisco, California, United States. It runs between Chinatown station in Chinatown and a portal in South of Market (SoMa), with intermediate stops at Union Square/Market Street station in Union Square and Yerba Buena/Moscone station in SoMa. A surface portion runs through SoMa to connect to the previously existing T Third Street line at 4th and King station.

The project was initiated after the Embarcadero Freeway was torn down following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, as activist Rose Pak "almost single-handedly persuaded the city to build" the Central Subway to compensate Chinatown for the loss of the fast cross-town connection.^[1] Originally set to open in late 2018, the subway initially opened with a weekend-only shuttle service between Chinatown station and 4th and Brannan station on November 19, 2022. Full service as part of the T Third Street line began on January 7, 2023. With the addition of the Central Subway, the T Third Street line is projected to become Muni Metro's highest ridership line by 2030.^[2]

The budget to complete the Central Subway was $1.578 billion. The project was funded primarily through the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. In October 2012, the FTA approved a Full Funding Grant Agreement, the federal commitment of funding through New Starts, for the Central Subway for a total amount of $942.2 million. The Central Subway was also funded by the State of California, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the City and County of San Francisco.^[3]