Cable Cars Return To San Francisco Streets

Cable Cars sit idle at the historic Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse on June 3, 2014 in San Francisco, California.
Photo credit Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

San Francisco's famous cable cars are once again carrying riders up and down the city's hills. 

The service was shut down for 10 days for a maintenance project. 

Workers rehabilitated the system's gearboxex.

This work was part of a larger project that several years ago began repairing the heavy equipment used by the cable cars

The gearboxes spin 30-foot tall wheels, which pull 12 miles of steel cable and lift the car across the network. 

The gearboxes have powered the cable car service since the 1890s.