BART ‘Fleet of the Future’ carriages enter service

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Photo: Bombardier.
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The first train of the San Francisco Bay Area’s ‘Fleet of the Future’ has entered revenue service.

The inaugural ride out at MacArthur station on January 19 follows months of testing.

More than 2,900 modifications have been made to the prototype trains, which were certified by the California Public Utilities Commission earlier this month.

The 10 test trains have now entered service and the operator, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), has another 10 going through final testing and certification.

Full production is now underway and the next of the 775 carriages Bombardier is supplying  to BART will be delivered from the factory in the State of New York in February.

Since the order was placed in 2012, passenger figures have grown by 14 per cent. BART is hoping to find the funding for another 306 carriages to support an extension into Silicon Valley.

At peak production, between 16 and 20 new carriages will be delivered every month, with the final vehicles due to arrive by the end of 2022.

BART board president Robert Raburn said in a statement: “The sight of this new train in service is a sign of a brighter future for BART customers.”

He added: “Adding new train cars and phasing out BART’s legacy fleet is just one of the ways we are modernizing. We are also replacing track and infrastructure and bringing on a new train control system to improve reliablity and run trains closer together. But for now let’s all enjoy the look and feel of the brand-new cars.”


Read more: San Francisco’s BART to begin testing new metro trains on track