San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) recently resumed accepting deliveries of new Fleet of the Future rail cars.
The agency stopped accepting new cars in January 2021 to allow the manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, to improve the cars’ reliability and availability.
The manufacturer made several software improvements as well as upgrades and modifications to fix issues with the onboard automatic train control system and to stop the cars’ wheels from developing flat spots during rainy or wet conditions.
During the pause in deliveries, BART also needed to alleviate rail car storage constraints at its maintenance yards.
Currently, BART is running 23 new trains and has run 56 during the peak commute. It has received 308 new cars, 293 of which have been certified for service, and 219 are in service.
Stringent contractual reliability requirements have yet to be fully met.
The $2.6 billion Fleet of the Future is BART’s project to replace its more than 40-year-old fleet with updated technology. The new cars are quieter and smoother than the old cars and have a top speed 10 miles an hour faster, reaching up to 70 miles an hour.
The Fleet of the Future cars were designed specifically for BART’s specific needs.