J Church

This article is about the San Francisco railway line. For the band, see J Church (band).

J Church
J Church train in Dolores Park in 2017
Overview
Owner	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Locale	San Francisco, California
Termini	Embarcadero station Balboa Park station
Stations	25
Service
Type	Light rail/Streetcar
System	Muni Metro
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Rolling stock	Breda LRV2 and LRV3
History
Opened	August 11, 1917 (1917-08-11)
Technical
Character	At grade & underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route diagram J Church to 4th and King to East Bay turnback Embarcadero Montgomery Union Sq/​Market St Powell Civic Center to Balboa Park Van Ness Market Street subway → ← Duboce Portal ← to surface tracks on Market Street (closed 1982) to Ocean Beach Church and Duboce Church and Market Church Church and 16th Street to/from yard Church and 18th Street Dolores Park Right Of Way/20th Street Right Of Way/Liberty Right Of Way/21st Street Church and 22nd Street Church and 24th Street Church and Clipper Church and 27th Street Church and 29th/Day Streets Church and 30th Street to Civic Center 30th Street and Dolores San Jose and Randall Bernal Cut San Jose/​Glen Park I-280 San Jose and Santa Rosa San Jose and Santa Ynez San Jose and Ocean to Church to Glen Park Balboa Park San Jose and Geneva to Church to Millbrae & SFO Key Muni lines BART lines

The J Church is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California, mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown.

Route description

J Church's private right-of-way over Dolores Heights

The line runs from Embarcadero Station in the Financial District to Balboa Park Station and the Balboa Park neighborhood near City College of San Francisco. The downtown portion of the line uses the Market Street Subway, along with four other Muni Metro lines (K/T, L, M and N lines). The J exits the tunnel at Duboce Avenue along with the N Judah and turns onto Church Street. Between 18th and 20th Street, the line cuts through Dolores Park in a private right-of-way featuring a 9% grade, the steepest section of the Muni Metro. After crossing 20th Street, it cuts across the blocks east of Church, around a steep hill and returns to Church Street at 22nd Street in Noe Valley. The J then follows Church to 30th Street, then to San Jose Avenue and Geneva. Between Randall and Cotter Streets, there is a right-of-way in the middle of San Jose Avenue. At the end of the line, the J loops around the Metro yard at San Jose and Geneva, alongside Balboa Park Station.

The J Church line stops at large stations for the downtown section of the route and at smaller stops on the rest of the line. Most of the smaller stops are designated by a sign on the sidewalk, while a few have concrete "islands" in the middle of the street next to the tracks that provide access for wheelchairs.

While most other lines in the rail system can be run in two-car configurations, the J line is almost always run with a single car in order to accommodate the stops in the right-of-way, which are not long enough to have two light rail cars with open doors simultaneously.

Operation

The J Church begins service at 5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. Sundays and continues until 12:15 a.m. every night. Headways range from 7 to 15 minutes during the day, and 15 to 20 minutes at night. There is no late night service along the entire J line. Some of the route is covered by the L-Owl and N-Owl service provided by diesel buses run on Market Street between Church Street and Steuart Street. Owl service on the 24 Divisadero line runs near the portion of the J line north of 30th Street, and 14 Mission owl service runs near the portion of the line south of 30th.

History

With track work largely completed by 1916, service began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines on August 11, 1917. As part of the creation of the Muni Metro system, it was partially converted to modern light rail operation in 1981. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the J Church avoided this due to the private right-of-way it uses to climb the steepest grades on Church Street, between 18th Street and 22nd Street.

Extension to Balboa Park

An inbound J Church train turns from San Jose Avenue onto 30th Street

The outer end of the line was originally at Church and 30th Streets, where streetcars used a wye to turn around. Studies to extend the line from its southern terminus had been the 1920s. In 1991, the tracks were extended to the Balboa Park BART station and the Metro Center (Muni light-rail maintenance and operations base), giving J-line cars a much shorter connection to the yard than previously. However, the 2.3-mile (3.7 km) new section was initially used only by light rail cars starting or ending their runs; all-day J-line service was not extended along the new tracks until March 1992.

This trackage was laid along the Bernal Cut, the former right-of-way of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad.

This extension of the J-line to the Metro Center now also provides vintage F Market cars a connection to the adjacent Geneva Yard, where they are stored when not in service. Occasionally J-Church streetcars use the siding at 30th and Church as a terminus during rush hours, or during irregular operations.

Future Plans

With the completion of the M Ocean View Subway, the J Church will be re-routed to connect with the M Ocean View at a new four-track subway station at SF State. The J line is expected to enter a new portal on 19th Avenue near Monticello Street with a subway tunnel following approximately the current M line alignment between Monticello Street and Holloway Avenue along 19th Avenue. Concepts for extensions include one north of Church and Duboce Streets along Fillmore Street to Fort Mason.

Station and stop listing

inbound to outbound

Station	Neighborhood	Other Muni Metro lines	Notes
Embarcadero	Financial District		Inbound terminus Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART; within walking distance of E Embarcadero Serves Ferry Building
Montgomery Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Powell Street	Financial District		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Civic Center/UN Plaza	Civic Center		Connects to F Market & Wharves and BART
Van Ness	Civic Center and Tenderloin		Connects to F Market & Wharves
Duboce and Church (inbound only)	Duboce Triangle		No stops at this station outbound Meets N Judah via a separate platform
Church and 14th (outbound) Church and Market (inbound)	Duboce Triangle	*	*Connects with K, L, M, T and S at the Church Street Station in the Market Street Subway Connects with F Market & Wharves streetcar Muni bus line: 37
Church and 16th Street	Castro		Muni bus line: 22
Church and 18th Street	Castro		Muni bus: 33
20th Street	Mission District		Located on its own right-of-way in Dolores Park
Liberty	Mission District		Right-of-way
21st Street	Noe Valley		Right-of-way
Church and 22nd Street	Noe Valley
Church and 24th Street	Noe Valley		Muni bus: 48
Church and Clipper	Noe Valley
Church and 27th Street	Noe Valley
Church and 29th Street (inbound) Church and Day (outbound)	Noe Valley
Church and 30th Street (inbound only)	Noe Valley		Muni bus: 24
30th Street and Dolores	Bernal Heights		Muni bus: 24
San Jose and Randall	Bernal Heights		Muni bus: 14, 49
San Jose and Bosworth (or San Jose/Glen Park)	Glen Park		Located across the street from the Glen Park BART station. Muni bus lines: 23, 36, 44, 52
San Jose and Santa Rosa	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Santa Ynez	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Ocean	Mission Terrace
San Jose and Santa Rosa	Mission Terrace		Muni bus: 49
Balboa Park	Mission Terrace	*	Outbound terminus Connects with BART via Muni Metro's mezzanine level *Utilizes turn around shared with K Ingleside; within walking distance of M Ocean View Muni bus lines: 8, 8BX, 29, 43, 49, 54, 88

External links

Template:Attached KML/J Church

KML is from Wikidata

• SFMTA - J Church
• J Church schedule