BART fleet upgrade not on track
BART’s $2.6 billion project to replace its aging train cars with a “Fleet of the Future” is supposed to herald a sleek new era for the transit system.
But the future is off to a rocky start. The replacement effort had already fallen well behind schedule before it ground to a halt this month, when BART stopped accepting new cars until their manufacturer, the Canadian transportation firm Bombardier, resolves software glitches and problems with the trains’ wheels that have caused breakdowns nearly three times more frequently than the older fleet.
BART and Bombardier once promised they would have more than 600 new cars in service by the end of 2020, with the full fleet of 775 zipping around the Bay Area a year later.
Instead, BART has only received 286 cars, and estimates the full order won’t arrive until spring 2023. And that could slip further depending on how long the reliability problems take to fix — BART has estimated it won’t accept new trains for three to six months.
Agency officials insist
the new cars’ troubled debut does not foreshadow longer-term problems.
“Everything we’re experiencing is expected in a car project of this complexity,” said Dave Hardt, who as BART’s chief mechanical officer for rolling stock is overseeing the arrival of the new cars.
Still, Hardt said BART is pressing Bombardier to address the reliability problems.
“They have not made the improvements as quickly
as we would like,” Hardt said of Bombardier, “and I think they would tell you the same thing.”
Bombardier did not make any company officials available for an interview and responded to a list of emailed questions with a written statement.
“As with all new rolling stock, the Fleet of the Future cars have required some adjustments during their break-in period,” Bombardier spokeswoman Maryanne Roberts wrote.
“We have developed a comprehensive plan that identifies solutions that will lead to the fleet meeting the reliability levels expected by BART and the traveling public.”
The Bombardier fleet is one of BART’s “Big Three” projects — along with a new train control system that will allow for more frequent service and an expanded maintenance yard in Hayward — that when completed will expand the system’s capacity by nearly 50%.