If you’re old enough to know what a floppy disk is, you’re old enough to know how bonkers this is: San Francisco’s Automatic Train Control System (ATCS) runs on data that is stored on floppy disks.
Floppy disks were first put into widespread commercial use by IBM in the 1970s and were the go-to way to store data through the 1990s. Apple dropped the floppy drive in 1998 with the release of the iMac, and five years later, Dell did the same with its Dell Dimension range. Sony was the last company to manufacture the disks, halting operations in 2011.
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In other words, floppy disks are an insanely old and outdated way to manage data.
San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency board, which oversees the Muni Metro light rail network in the city, announced the approval of a $212 million overhaul, which will eliminate the need to load the data stored on these floppy disks each morning, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The system communicates the data using wire loops that are “easily disrupted” and move more slowly than a wireless modem. (In a city built in an area that experiences lots and lots of earthquakes each year, what could go wrong?)
The new Hitachi system will be “five generations ahead” of the floppy disk system, according to Muni Director of Transit Julie Kirschbaum. Let’s hope “five generations” puts it beyond CD-ROMs at least.
