![]() ![]() Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateġ of3 The new BART cars sit along the test track at the BART maintenance complex, in Hayward, Ca. Original plans called for 60 cars but troubles discovered during testing of the cars that had been delivered caused BART and Bombardier to extend the tests before the go-ahead to the manufacturer for more new cars. Under its agreement, Bombardier is scheduled to deliver 25 more cars by the end of 2017. They’ve been undergoing rigorous testing in BART’s Hayward yard and throughout the system in the early mornings to find and fix problems before BART officially accepts them and Bombardier fires up the production line at its Plattsburgh, N.Y., plant for the remainder of the cars.īART officials said they hope to give the go-ahead in June and put the new cars to work. The first 10 of the new cars arrived five months late. The new rail cars will be used throughout the system, not just on the new extension. As the cars are delivered, they’ll be added to BART’s existing fleet, which will be slowly retired. “We just need more cars,” said Robert Raburn, a BART director from Oakland.īombardier is under contract with BART to deliver 775 new rail cars within five years. The result is that some riders have to transfer on trains to or from Warm Springs. The lack of rail cars has prompted BART’s decision to limit service to the Warm Springs station. Without enough cars, passengers are left to stand aboard overcrowded trains - or wait on platforms for the next train that has room to crowd aboard. And it can’t even come close to the dream of running 10-car trains, the maximum length, on all lines during the busiest times of day. During a typical commute, BART doesn’t have the ability to run trains with as many cars as it needs. ![]() The transit system already suffers from a car shortage, as anyone who’s crowded onto a packed BART train knows. ![]() And delivery of even the first 10 new cars was problematic. BART already struggles to keep to its schedules with a current fleet of 669 rail cars, some more than 40 years old. Whether BART riders can count on it as well remains to be seen. “It is going to be close,” said Paul Oversier, BART’s assistant general manager for operations. But the combination of speedy construction and a delay in rail car deliveries could spell trouble. VTA, as it is known in the South Bay, is building and paying for the extension then turning it over to BART to operate. The new BART cars on the test track at the BART maintenance complex, in Hayward, Ca. Work is 94 percent complete on the extension that was originally expected to open in spring 2018, said Stacey Hendler Ross, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Meanwhile, work on the 10-mile, two-station extension from the newly opened Warm Springs/South Fremont station to the Berryessa neighborhood of San Jose is at least three months ahead of schedule. ![]()
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