New Train Car Project

LATEST PROJECT STATUS: BART has awarded an $896 million contract award to Bombardier Transit Corporation for design and construction of 410 train cars. BART and Bombardier engineers have begun a multi-year collaboration to work out the details of the future vehicle design.  Read more....

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What Will The New Trains Look Like?

BART’s new trains will be sleek, attractive, and efficient to operate. Planned features include:

• 50% more doors to make getting on and off faster and easier;
• More priority seating for seniors and people with disabilities;
• Bike racks to better accommodate bicyclists during hours when bikes are permitted on BART;
• Energy efficiency LED lighting and state-of-the-art propulsion;
• Interior digital displays showing the next stop and other passenger information;
• Exterior digital displays showing route color and the train’s destination;
• An improved public address (PA) system, including automated announcements;
• Improved on-board security cameras.

Riders have told us they want seats that are comfortable and clean. In response, we are testing a new wipeable seat material that will be easier to keep clean. Many riders, especially those riding long distances, have also told us that they want BART to ensure that there are enough seats in the new trains.

Revised interior design, March 2012. Typical commuter seating
at the ends, and open seating in the middle.

The design concepts described in the report are the starting point for a design and engineering collaboration with North American-based Bombardier, the selected car builder. Read more in the FAQ.

Carbuilder Evaluation, Selection and Ongoing Management Process

Selecting the best vendor to design and build BART’s Fleet of the Future involves a carefully planned process managed over several years. To be successful on a project of this size and importance, BART works closely with regional and federal funding partners. These partnerships ensure that funds are spent in accordance with strict federal guidelines designed to get the best value on high-quality, state-of-the-art rail cars. The selection process started in September 2009 when BART released a detailed request for proposals. That process culminated in the selection of Bombardier in May 2012 based on seven evaluation criteria:
 

• Price

• Experience and Past Performance
• Vehicle Subsystem Design Details
• Approach to the work
• Delivery Schedule and Narrative\
• Staffing
• Energy "Figure of Merit" (measuring energy consumption)

Price is at the top of the list, but the combination of all criteria help ensure that BART’s Fleet of the Future will be reliable and cost-effective over the next 40 years of service.  The selected vendor is required to comply with Federal Buy America requirements that govern transit vehicle procurements, including the requirement that final assembly of the vehicles take place in the United States, and that the cost of domestic components be at least 60% of  the cost of all components. 

BART is a national leader in the transit industry because of our successful sponsorship of a bill signed by Governor Jerry Brown last year to authorize agencies to establish bid preferences for rolling stock proposals that exceed minimum federal requirements for domestic content.  BART adopted such a bid preference and incorporated it into the Request for Best and Final Offers. BART is extremely proud to have been the first transit agency in the nation to adopt such a preference policy.     

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Next-generation BART trains: The Fleet of the Future is being shaped now

BART postcard circa early 1970s by Tom Tracy

BART's train cars have carried riders around the Bay Area since 1972, when Ronald Reagan was governor, The Godfather was in theaters and Atari was releasing the seminal video game Pong. 

Sleek and silver, fantastic and futuristic when they were first introduced, those workhorse train cars are still running but nearing the end of their useful lives.
 
A new generation of train cars --  the Fleet of the Future -- will replace them. While the first of those new train cars won't roll down the rails for several years, the project to replace them is well underway – and BART is seeking your input. You can use this comment form to email your feedback to us.  In order to get the funding necessary for this project, BART will need help at all levels of government – local, regional, state and federal. If you are interested in being involved, please sign up to receive email news about the project so that we can keep you updated on developments and ask for your support in partnering with us on this effort. (Follow the link and choose “Sign Up” then specify “New Train Car Project” by checking the box under “BART Projects.”)

LISTENING TO PUBLIC INPUT

Already, BART made adjustments to the interior specifications based on public input received to date as part of community outreach events and through this website. While the final interior seat layout is still to be determined, the public spoke loud and clear that maximizing seating was a top priority for many. As a result, we are working to maximize the number of seats. Designing seat configurations is a delicate balancing act of comfort and capacity. Sentiment received so far also tended strongly toward getting rid of the fabric-covered seats and carpeting – with the idea that comfortable yet easier-to-clean surfaces would result in cleaner train car interiors.

“I have strong feelings about the fact that there should be NO carpeting and NO upholstery on the seats,” a rider from Richmond said in an emailed comment.   After a few years the carpets and seats look shabby and dirty.  Removing both makes it possible to clean the cars easily and make them look good for a long time to come.”

Final decisions have not yet been made, but public input has been important to BART’s decision to move away from carpets and fabric upholstery on the new vehicles. BART already has taken steps in this direction with modifications on existing cars, replacing carpet with composite flooring in some train cars, to generally very positive reception.

Bicyclists also spoke up to say they would like better options for bringing their bikes on trains. BART is pursuing the idea of on-board bicycle racks, which could accommodate bikes in a safer, more efficient way, with less adverse effect on other non-biking passengers. Our latest research shows that 4% of BART customers ride a bicycle from their home to a station.

“One of your top priorities has got to be passengers with bikes,” a rider from Oakland wrote in an emailed comment. “If you indeed want to be sustainable and give riders more access, bikes need to be …  accommodated with bike-specific spaces in any new railcar design.”.

“Everybody in the Bay Area is going to have an opinion about these cars,” BART Director Thomas Blalock said at a Board meeting on April 22, 2010, when BART staff gave a presentation on the train car project to the Board.  “We have to do it right, because it’s important and it’s going to be around for a long time.”

There are many other elements of the new train cars that will be of interest to the riding public, beyond simply the interior design. These train cars are expected to be the lightest and most energy-efficient for their performance in the world. Suppliers will be required to document their use of recyclable materials. Furthermore, engineering innovations in the new trains will directly impact reliability – which consistently comes in as the quality customers value most about BART. 

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

So, you may be asking: What can I do NOW to contribute to the process, so that the BART trains I ride in 2020 (or that my children or grandchildren ride in 2035) will meet our needs? Here are three easy steps:

1.Sign up to receive email updates about the project so that we can keep you posted on developments and ask for your support in partnering with us on this effort. (Follow the link and choose “Sign Up” then specify “New Train Car Project” by checking the box under "BART Projects")
2.Send in your ideas for the Fleet of the Future using the comment form.  Your feedback really can make a difference!

Below is additional information about the new train car project and about BART's existing fleet.

Project Goals:

The mission of the next-generation train car project is to procure a next-generation BART fleet that addresses system capacity requirements and customer comfort for the next 30 years and beyond. Goals include:

• Balance capacity, comfort and boarding efficiency
• Optimize maintainability, reliability and cleanliness
• Ensure a security-conscious design
• Improve communication to passengers
• Meet expansion needs
• Minimize impact on the environment/be sustainable

Preliminary project timeline:

• 2009: Request for Proposals issued by BART
• 2010: Initial Proposals from train car suppliers are received
• 2011: Request for Best and Final Offer issued by BART
• 2012: Best and Final Offers from train car suppliers are received
• 2012: Contract is awarded; detailed design process begins and public outreach continues
• 2014: Target for full-scale train car mock-up and conclusion of design phase
• 2015: First 10 train cars delivered as pilot cars for comprehensive testing
• 2016: Pre-production design review; approve production
• 2019: Complete acceptance of base order of 260 train cars
•  2023: Complete acceptance of additional 515 train cars (options 1 thru 4)

BART's existing fleet

The majority of train cars  in the BART fleet have been in use since BART service began. Three types of train cars are in the fleet:  Model A2/B2, Model C1 and Model C2 as shown in the table below.

 

Model	Supplier	Number of Vehicles	Useful Life	Year in Service	Year of Rehab	End of Useful Life
A2/B2	Rohr	439	25	1972	1997-2000	2012-2015
C1	Alstom	150	25	1988	None	2013
C2	Morrison-Knudsen	80	25	1994	None	2019

A successful rehabilitation program for the A/B train cars in the late 1990s extended their life by 15 years and increased their reliability to better than the newer C-Car fleets. However, the rehabilitated A/B trian cars are approaching the end of their useful life, and the newer C-Cars are also due for replacement very soon. In addition, increased ridership is putting greater strain on the fleet—on average the train cars currently run 110,000 miles per year, with 92 percent availability. 

The technology in these train cars has become very dated as well. Significant improvements in technology have developed since these vehicles were designed, especially in propulsion, communications and failure monitoring systems. Many of the older systems are out of production, the technology is no longer supported and parts are scarce—all of which make maintenance more difficult and costly. 

In fact, according to the American Public Transportation Association, BART's existing fleet is the oldest fleet among large domestic transit agencies. See table below for comparisons:

 

Agency/City	Total Cars	Average Age
BART-San Francisco	669	30.1
CTA-Chicago	1,190	26.3
MBTA-Boston	432	21.0
NYCT-New York	6,442	20.6
WMATA-Washington	1,132	19.7
SEPTA-Philadelphia	371	16.9

In view of all of these factors, BART elected to replace rather than refurbish the fleet. A new train car design will provide improved reliability necessary to support anticipated service demands and allow BART to benefit from new technologies.  The new train car procurement is a capital investment of up to 1,000 train cars and will span more than a decade. The new train cars will be designed for reliability, comfort and longevity. They will have the capacity to carry a growing number of passengers and facilitate efficient boarding at stations in the years ahead. 

Contact Us

For more information on the new train car project, use this email form to contact us.

 

Last Updated: May 20, 2013