How loud does BART get?

Why are BART trains so loud? Screeeeech, nothing sounds quite so piercing as a BART train zipping through the Transbay Tube. A few years ago, a Chronicle study found that the loudest stretches of track topped out at 100 decibels; 85 decibels is considered the threshold for potential hearing damage.



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Testing has shown a drop of as many as 20 decibels in sound intensity. One way to think about the difference is if the decibel level of riding on a BART train with the old wheel profile and rail sounded like standing near a lawnmower the new system is more like being next to a dishwasher.

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But because of the design, one of the wheels ends up getting dragged against the rail on turns, which causes that high-pitched squeal. “So one wheel has to be sliding while the other is rolling,” Kolesar says.

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“People say BART cars are loud, but it's all relative,” Kolesar says. BART averages 35 mph, which is much faster than trains in most cities. New York's subway goes about half as fast on average — 17 mph. And as anyone who has taken the A train can tell you, New York subway cars are not known to be silent types.

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Constructed in 57 sections, and reposing on the bay floor as deep as 135 feet beneath the surface, the remarkable $180 million structure took six years of toil and seismic studies to design, and less than three years to contract.

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The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is a heavy-rail public transit system that connects the San Francisco Peninsula with communities in the East Bay and South Bay.

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The intensity of sound will vary at night, sometimes louder and sometimes softer. It has to do with the height and strength of a temperature inversion just above the ground. On clear, calm nights, it is cooler at the ground than higher up.

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Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) uses 5'6” Indian gauge as the rule of thumb is that a wider gauge means greater stability, with BART expecting to be the most advanced rail system in the county at the time of its conception.

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Yes, but be watchful and mindful of your luggage. If someone seems sketchy or looks mentally unstable, then get up and move to another car.

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Taking BART, he noted, is also faster than driving the highly trafficked highways into San Francisco. “Being on BART makes me feel relieved. It's way more stressful driving,” he said. “It's tough commuting this far, but public transit makes it more manageable.”

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Earthquake Safety Program The Transbay Tube is BART's most critical asset. Although the tube is structurally sound, in a very large and very rare earthquake, the outer shell and concrete liner are predicted to crack.

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