Bay Area Rapid Transit rolling stock

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The word "BART" in black letters above a dark blue lowercase letter "b" partially superimposed on a lowercase "a" of a lighter color blue with a clear background

The rolling stock of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system consists of 782 self-propelled electric multiple units, built in four separate orders.[1]

Pre-pandemic, to run a typical peak morning commute, BART required 579 cars. Of those, 535 are scheduled to be in active service; the others are used to build up four spare trains (used to maintain on-time service).[1][2] The remaining 90 cars are in for repair, maintenance, or some type of planned modification work.[3] All trains on the separate automated guideway transit line are in regular use without spares. Alstom (originally Bombardier) is manufacturing a complete replacement of the mainline fleet. With the withdrawal and retirement of the older fleet, there will be 775 vehicles in total, with long-term goals of eventually increasing this to 1,200 cars.

The automated guideway transit line utilizes off-the-shelf cable car technology developed by Doppelmayr Cable Car: the Cable Liner. The eBART extension was constructed to more traditional specifications and uses Stadler GTW articulated diesel multiple units previously utilized in other systems.

The mainline track gauge is 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm), significantly wider than the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge used on the national passenger and freight railroads and most rapid transit systems in North America. It also uses flat-edge rail, rather than typical rail that angles slightly inward. These factors have complicated maintenance of the system, as it requires custom wheelsets, brake systems, and track maintenance vehicles.[4] Stations have a platform height of 39 inches (991 mm).[5] A full consist, which will fill the system's platforms, is ten units, equaling 700 feet (213 m). BART trains are unique among American rapid transit systems as they have proper gangway connections and passengers are permitted to walk between cars, not unlike an open gangway system.

The legacy fleet was removed from regular service on September 11, 2023, but kept some cars as a reserve fleet for occasional use. The final operation of the legacy cars was at a decommissioning ceremony on April 20, 2024.

  1. ^ a b Chinn, Jerold (January 29, 2015). "Long wait ahead for longer BART trains". San Francisco Bay Area. Retrieved September 29, 2015. BART explains it has total of 662 trains, but about 535 are in service during peak commute times, about 86.5 percent of its fleet. BART said it runs more of its fleet than any other major transit agency despite having the oldest trains in the nation.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference crush was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ ""Why can't the trains be longer?" Some background to explain". Bay Area Rapid Transit. September 25, 2008. Archived from the original on August 27, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  4. ^ Gafni, Matthias (March 25, 2016). "Has BART's cutting-edge 1972 technology design come back to haunt it?". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  5. ^ "BART-San Francisco Airport Extension Final Environmental Impact Report/Final Environmental Impact Statement". Federal Transit Administration. June 1996. pp. 3–501 – via Internet Archive.