Finally, after decades, San Francisco transit officials have approved a $212 million overhaul to its woefully outdated train control system. Among many other things, it means San Francisco's trains will no longer be operated using three floppy disks.

Currently, and since 1998, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, or SFMTA, has been using 35-inch floppy disks to control its automatic light-rail systems. Floppy disks were much more common back in 1998, though they would soon be replaced by CDs.

If you're going to invest a ton of money as a city to change the entire technical system that runs your trains, you probably take a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. The trains ran mostly well and on time for nearly 30 years, so why spend hundreds of millions of dollars to change them?

Well, it seems like the time has finally come that the aging system poses risks of data degradation which could potentially lead to catastrophic failures as time goes on. The change is all about getting ahead of any potential catastrophes.

The upgrade was originally set to begin in 2018 but faced several delays, one of which being COVID-19, which delayed everything in life for everybody. All the delays pushed the anticipated completion date all the way back to 2030.

The new system promises to enhance communication and efficiency through Wi-Fi and cellular communications. SFMTA says that the long overdue upgrades will streamline several processes across the city, increasing operational speed and reliability.