ALL ABOARD BART!
Agency’s new fleet of train cars have been approved to start carrying passengers
SAN FRANCISCO » The first shiny and new 10- car BART train will start carrying passengers in “the coming days,” BART officials said Thursday.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said that could happen “as soon as tomorrow,” but shied away from providing more concrete details.
In a milestone for the agency, state regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission gave conditional approval on Wednesday for BART to put the train into service. Some passengers may have seen the new train passing through stations, but so far, it’s had only BART engineers and other officials on board.
BART riders welcomed the news, saying they were looking forward to a quieter ride, more breathing room, bike racks and other amenities. The new train cars have fewer seats and more standing room than the older cars and will allow the agency to run longer trains, adding capacity throughout the system.
Oakland resident Tara Ericksen said she would likely bike more now that there are racks in the train cars.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I think it’ll be great.”
Others were eager to say goodbye to some of their least favorite features of the aging fleet. Tish Brooks, an Oakland resident, will be happy to see a gradual elimi- nation of BART’s carpeted seats, which she described as smelly, stained and downright “nasty.”
“The (cars) are old, a little dirty, a little raggedy,” Brooks said. “So, I think it’s good they are finally replacing them.”
The news comes after BART failed an initial safety inspection with state regulators in November, when the train did not recognize all 10 cars and the doors failed to open on seven of the cars. That threw a wrench in BART’s plan to roll out the new train by Thanksgiving with the aimof putting more new cars on the tracks before the New Year.
BART is replacing its 669 train cars with 775 new ones, a $2.6 billion effort to up-
date its aging fleet, add capacity and improve passengers’ experience. But the effort has been fraught with delays from the start, frustrating riders eager for relief from the overcrowded and worn- down trains.
BART successfully completely its train test run with state regulators on Jan. 9, Elizaveta Malashenko, director of the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division, said in a letter to the agency.
“Additionally, staff is satisfied, as well, with the testing of the new vehicle 10- car (train),” Malashenko wrote. “Please con- sider this letter an approval to operate the new 10- car (train) in revenue service.”
BART will still have to get approval to put the next 10- car train into service. And, for the new trains cars to be manufactured, BART still must complete certain tests of the trains’ mechanical systems, brakes and propul- sion and automatic train control, Malashenko said.
It must also correct some issues with its test train, including a “chime sounding over the start of the emergency announcement” and an issue with the operator’s cab window, which Malashenko said should remain “rigorously locked” when the latch is secured.
BART now has 20 new cars — not including the 10- car test train — at its testing facility in Hayward. But it’s unclear when the second and third 10- car trains will start carrying passengers. Trost said staff won’t answer questions about the new cars until the first train rolls out onto the mainline.
She did say the agency is “thrilled” to finally start using the long- awaited new trains.
“We are thrilled to finally carry passengers on the new fleet and let the riders experience the improvements the cars offer,” she said.