J Church

J Church
Info
Type	light rail
System	Muni Metro
Locale	San Francisco, California
Terminals	Embarcadero Station Balboa Park Station
Operation
Owner	City of San Francisco
Operator(s)	San Francisco Municipal Railway
Technical
Electrification	overhead catenary
Highest elevation	underground, at grade

J Church

Legend Embarcadero Montgomery Street Powell Street Civic Center Van Ness K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Ocean View, and T Third Street Duboce Portal Duboce and Church Handicap Access Only N Judah Church and Market Church Street Station F Market & Wharves Church and 16th Street Church and 18th Street Right-of-way and 20th Street Right-of-way and Liberty Right-of-way and 21st Street Church and 22nd Street Church and 24th Street Church and Clipper Church and 27th Street Church and 29th Street Church and 30th Street 30th Street and Dolores San Jose and Randall San Jose and Bosworth Glen Park Station Interstate 280 San Jose and Santa Rosa San Jose and Santa Ynez San Jose and Ocean K Ingleside Balboa Park Station

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

The J Church is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the late 1970s. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the J Church remained a streetcar line due to the private right-of-way it uses to avoid the steepest grades on Church Street, between 18th Street and 22nd Street. Buses could not have negotiated the grades, and the right-of-way is too narrow to accommodate anything wider than the streetcar tracks.

The outbound end of the line was originally at Church and 30th Streets, but it was extended to Balboa Park Station in the early 1990s.

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 the other four Muni Metro 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 on a private right-of-way. 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, which it then takes to San Jose Avenue to Geneva. Between Randall and Cotter Street, 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.

Station listing

Looking south along the private right-of-way near 20th Street

The Duboce portal, where the J Church exits the subway with the N Judah line. A Boeing Vertol streetcar can be seen to the left on the former right-of-way.

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 nothing more than a sign on the side of the street designating a stop and a few others are concrete 'islands' in the middle of the street next to the tracks that provide access for wheelchairs. Bus routes provide service to all stations and other systems with access to the stations are noted.

• Embarcadero Station - BART access
• Montgomery Street Station - BART access
• Powell Street Station - BART and Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde cable car lines access
• Civic Center Station - BART access
• Van Ness Station
• Duboce and Church (handicap access only)
• Church and Market (Church Street Station)
• Church and 16th Street
• Church and 18th Street
• Right-of-way and 20th Street
• Right-of-way and Liberty
• Right-of-way and 21st Street
• Church and 22nd Street
• Church and 24th Street
• Church and Clipper
• Church and 27th Street
• Church and 29th Street
• Church and 30th Street
• 30th St. and Dolores
• San Jose and Randall
• San Jose and Bosworth (Glen Park Station) - BART access
• San Jose and Santa Rosa
• San Jose and Santa Ynez
• San Jose and Ocean
• Balboa Park Station - BART access

External links

• Muni Metro and San Francisco rail map (195KB PDF)
• J-Church route information from the SF Muni Map Project

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