Why BART is getting rid of its old legacy fleet trains?
Operating shorter trains means the agency will be able to run full service with only its new cars. Unlike the old trains that have been in service since 1972, BART's newer “Fleet of the Future” trains have fewer seats that can't be vandalized.
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The majority of the old cars will be recycled. The Fleet Disposition Team will manage the process, including selecting which parts should be harvested from retired vehicles and choosing which cars with the highest failure rates get retired first.
BART plans to launch the Fleet of the Future trains using eight-car and six-car trains but will adjust as ridership grows. Running trains with fewer cars will allow the BART Police Department (PD) to increase its visibility on trains and platforms while using the same number of staff.
BART to run only new trains as the base schedule beginning September 11, 2023. BART will exclusively run Fleet of the Future trains for the base schedule as part of its reimagined schedule launch on September 11th. This change represents a big improvement in the rider experience as well as on-time performance.
Q9: Will the new cars be faster? A: No.The new cars have a maximum speed of 80 miles per hour. To go faster than that, changes would need to be made, not only to the rail car propulsion systems, but also to other BART infrastructure.
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.”
Why aren't bikes allowed in the first car of a train? In the event of an emergency the train operator needs to have a quick, unimpeded path through the first car to emergency controls and to provide assistance. This policy also provides a space for anyone who does not want to be on a car with bikes.
Seats are scrubbed with hot water and disinfectant soap during a thorough clean. BART recently increased the frequency of thorough cleans from every 900 hours of train car service to every 450 hours, meaning we've doubled the number of times the cars in our system undergo a deep clean.
This is the deep clean -- BART's all-out, every-nook-and-cranny effort to fight back against whatever the Bay Area throws at or into these trains. Every 400 hours we come in, Burditt explained. From top to bottom. Each car takes two people and about two to three hours to complete.
BART's third rail, which powers the trains, runs on 1,000-volt DC electricity. For comparison, a typical car battery voltage measures 12.6 volts. With that much power pulsing through the system, BART Electricians always make safety their top priority.
Hours of operation are generally from 4 am to midnight on weekdays, 6 am to midnight on Saturdays and 8 am to midnight on Sundays and major holidays. Individual station closing times are coordinated with the schedule for the last train beginning at around midnight.
BART actually has a big machine that grinds down the bumps on corrugated track, eliminating some of the noise. This explains why sometimes a portion of the BART system makes loud uuunnnhhh sounds one day and doesn't make a peep the next. You aren't crazy -- they just smoothed out the track at night.
BART Ridership Quick FactsDuring peak commute hours, nearly 25,000 people ride through the Transbay Tube into Downtown San Francisco. BART's Pittsburg/Bay Point (yellow) line carries the largest number of people. The busiest stations in the BART system are Embarcadero and Montgomery.
Like most trains, BART wheels are tied together with rigid axels and no differentials. This means the wheels always rotate at the same speed, even around corners. Because the inner radius is smaller, there is less distance to travel, which can cause a slippage between the wheels and track, which is noisy.
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.
In 2012 BART chose Bombardier Transit Corporation to build BART's Fleet of the Future—a complex design, engineering, supply chain, and assembly process. In January 2018, the first ten train cars began service following safety and reliability testing, and regulatory approval.