In the American city of San Francisco, public transportation has relied on floppy disks for over 20 years. Back then, it was one of the most modern systems in the world. However, an upgrade is sorely needed, but it is also very costly.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is responsible for public transit and other areas in the city of the same name.
In an interview with abc7news, the agency explained that they have been relying on floppy disks for their control system for over 20 years. The train control system of SFMTA depends on 5-inch floppy disks every morning. However, an upgrade is lengthy and expensive.
Train control system was designed for 20 to 25 years, with the risk increasing each year
Mariana Maguire from the SFMTA Train Control Project explained that the system was one of the most modern at the time of its introduction.
We were the first agency in the USA to use this technology, but it came from a time when computers didn’t have hard drives, so you had to load the software from floppy disks onto the computer.
The head of SFMTA, Jeffrey Tumlin, stated that the system still works perfectly. However, with each passing year, the risk of losing important data increases:
It’s a matter of risk. The system is currently functioning perfectly, but we know that with each passing year, the risk of data loss on the floppy disks increases, and that eventually there will be a catastrophic failure.
In fact, the system with floppy disks was only designed for a lifespan of 20 to 25 years. Tumlin explained that modernizing the system would take another decade and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
So far, however, they have not found a suitable partner willing to upgrade the system.
“The exact timeline for the project will be determined once we have a contractor on board,” explained the director of SFMTA. “It is a multi-phased, ten-year project that begins with parts of the subway on Market Street and parts of the surface. Ultimately, our goal is to have a single train control system for the entire rail system.”
By the way, San Francisco is not the only city that still partially relies on an antiquated system:
- For example, there is a legal norm in Japan that mandates the use of physical media such as floppy disks. This has been reported by colleagues from Heise.
- The German railway company used floppy disks for data storage for seat reservations for many years. However, the Deutsche Bahn has now implemented a new, digital system.
More on old storage media: Many people destroy old hard drives because they believe that shredding old hard drives can prevent the recovery of valuable data. However, destruction does not stop experienced hackers from recovering your data from an HDD:
