Why is BART so noisy?

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.



People Also Ask

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.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

Noise. Many BART passengers have noted that the system is noisy, with a 2010 survey by the San Francisco Chronicle measuring up to 100 decibels (comparable to the noise level of a jackhammer) in the Transbay Tube between San Francisco and Oakland, and still more than 90 decibels in 23 other locations.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

“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.

MORE DETAILS

BART has 8 DMU train cars which each have a seating capacity of 104. 70 mph maximum; 35 mph average, including 20-second station stops. For BART to Antioch DMU trains, the maximum speed is 75 mph; 60 mph average.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

The reason that trains honk their horns so much at night is because it's dark and the trains aren't so easy to see. Even though the lights are on, we sometimes can't see them coming, especially around the many blind curves near or ahead of the train station.

MORE DETAILS

Locomotive horns serve a utilitarian function and in North America with its wide open spaces, sparsely populated areas between cities and infrequent rail traffic (compared to Europe) a louder horn and more frequent blasting makes practical sense.

MORE DETAILS

Taking the train has long been less expensive than driving when considering bridge tolls and parking — and now it's an even more affordable option when you consider most Bay Area gas stations are charging more than $6 a gallon.

MORE DETAILS

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.”

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

Safety is BART's top priority. To help keep passengers and our employees safe, BART has more than 4,000 working cameras throughout our system and we are working very hard to increase both sworn officers and ambassador presence.

MORE DETAILS