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In San Francisco, the heart of Silicon Valley, the public is truly alarmed by the automated train control system operating… on floppy disks (yes, those floppy disks). The head of a local transport company added fuel to the fire with his concerns about the risk of a “catastrophic error”, since the system has already served its purpose, and replacement is not planned for at least another ten years.
The story was brought to the attention of ABC7 News in a recent story about the San Francisco Municipal Railroad (SFMTA). To this day, a considerable part of critical infrastructure around the world continues to use the technologies of the last century – remember, the US nuclear shield (American automated strategic control system for nuclear forces SACCS) until 2019 used IBM Series/1 computers produced in the 1970s to transmit commands , as well as 8-inch floppy disks as storage media. So, in general, given the specifics of modernizing such systems, the situation with SFMTA is not surprising, but is another exemplary example of the use of past technologies.
SFMTA chief Jeffrey Tumlin said the system, in use since 1998, was implemented “in an era when computers didn't have hard drives.” But hard drives were quite common in home computers in the early 1990s. Yes, you can remember the initial release of Windows 95 on 24 floppy disks, but the end of the 90s — The beginning of the 2000s was already the heyday of the CD era. Another discrepancy — The type of floppies that the SFMTA system uses. The correspondent showed a 3.5-inch floppy disk, saying that updating the system required three 5-inch floppy disks daily. She probably made a mistake and mixed up 3.5″ and 5.25″ floppy disks, which were the standard media in the 80s.
Be that as it may, the SFMTA director explained that the system had exceeded its service life of 20-25 years. And while it still works well, “every year the risk of data degradation on floppy disks increases, and at some point a catastrophic failure may occur.” The implementation of a modern management system requires significant funds and time – approximately several hundred million dollars and at least ten years. Local officials are now setting their sights on creating a comprehensive train and subway system for San Francisco and surrounding areas, but there are no contracts or timelines for the project yet.
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