BART planners begin work on new vision for future
After mentioning the creation of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District 54 years ago,
BART - New Train Car Project - (PDF file with details). BART's fleet is aging. 439 railcars in 1972, 150 in 1988, 80 in 1994. BART has been getting feedback on possible designs, and BART has settled on some overall features: 3 doors per side instead of 2 for quicker boardings, smooth plastic instead of fabric seat covers for easier cleaning, and flat-end cab cars. The original BART fleet features cabs that stuck out, but many of them have been removed, and the later railcars all have flat-end ones.
BART - Livermore Extension Still in the planning stages, but they've decided on an initial phase: in I-580 to a west Livermore station, near Livermore Airport and Las Positas College. From there, it's less than clear -- either in I-580 to east Livermore near Vasco Rd. or else in a tunnel to the Livermore Transit Center and from there to Vasco Rd. near Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
BART - East Contra Costa BART Extension (eBART) It would use DMU vehicles. Any evidence of its construction? It is currently to be built to Antioch, but it could be extended further to Brentwood.
West Contra Costa (wBART), from Richmond to Hercules or Crockett. It would also use DMU vehicles, and it would use existing railroad lines.
BART down Geary Blvd. to the Richmond District and the Pacific Ocean. Seems to me more appropriate for the SF Muni Metro -- it could have a junction at the Central Subway, and it would run on the surface west of Van Ness Ave.
BART - Alameda County mentions possible BART service to Jack London Square. The planning documents mention two possibilities. An infill station between the Oakland Wye and West Oakland station, but that would still be some blocks away. A shuttle between 12th St. and JLS. At 12th St., the shuttle would go on the lower level, where they scrimped on a 4th track.
BART - San Francisco County mentions a proposed 30th-St. infill station between 24th St. and Glen Park. It would also have a crossover and a possible tail track. That will make it easier to run peak-time service to downtown SF; many of the trains could turn back there.
Possible infill station at Solano Ave. in Albany, between North Berkeley and El Cerrito Plaza. The Warm Springs construction will also include a possible infill station, at Irvington.
Other proposals include skip-stop peak-time service, late-night or round-the-clock service, crossovers, and extra tracks. A 4th track for downtown Oakland?
As to late-night service, BART shuts down for maintenance, but with more crossovers, BART could allow for maintenance by running single-track over much of its extent.
However, all these proposals will have to compete with various long-term maintenance and modernization efforts, like for the power supplies.
After mentioning the creation of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District 54 years ago,
Now, 54 years and 4 million people later, it's BART's turn to think big. Planners are working on a new vision for the future - one that could include express trains, all-night service, new stations along existing lines, trains traveling different routes and extensions to Livermore, Ocean Beach, Brentwood and Crockett. ...However, I was unable to find anything about that initiative on BART's site, http://www.bart.gov Yet I found several pages about parts of it.
The planning effort, which is just getting started, is called the metro concept, and will focus more on growth within the existing system and the urban core of the Bay Area than on extending the system outward. Still, it could include extensions within the BART district, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties.
BART - New Train Car Project - (PDF file with details). BART's fleet is aging. 439 railcars in 1972, 150 in 1988, 80 in 1994. BART has been getting feedback on possible designs, and BART has settled on some overall features: 3 doors per side instead of 2 for quicker boardings, smooth plastic instead of fabric seat covers for easier cleaning, and flat-end cab cars. The original BART fleet features cabs that stuck out, but many of them have been removed, and the later railcars all have flat-end ones.
BART - Livermore Extension Still in the planning stages, but they've decided on an initial phase: in I-580 to a west Livermore station, near Livermore Airport and Las Positas College. From there, it's less than clear -- either in I-580 to east Livermore near Vasco Rd. or else in a tunnel to the Livermore Transit Center and from there to Vasco Rd. near Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
BART - East Contra Costa BART Extension (eBART) It would use DMU vehicles. Any evidence of its construction? It is currently to be built to Antioch, but it could be extended further to Brentwood.
West Contra Costa (wBART), from Richmond to Hercules or Crockett. It would also use DMU vehicles, and it would use existing railroad lines.
BART down Geary Blvd. to the Richmond District and the Pacific Ocean. Seems to me more appropriate for the SF Muni Metro -- it could have a junction at the Central Subway, and it would run on the surface west of Van Ness Ave.
BART - Alameda County mentions possible BART service to Jack London Square. The planning documents mention two possibilities. An infill station between the Oakland Wye and West Oakland station, but that would still be some blocks away. A shuttle between 12th St. and JLS. At 12th St., the shuttle would go on the lower level, where they scrimped on a 4th track.
BART - San Francisco County mentions a proposed 30th-St. infill station between 24th St. and Glen Park. It would also have a crossover and a possible tail track. That will make it easier to run peak-time service to downtown SF; many of the trains could turn back there.
Possible infill station at Solano Ave. in Albany, between North Berkeley and El Cerrito Plaza. The Warm Springs construction will also include a possible infill station, at Irvington.
Other proposals include skip-stop peak-time service, late-night or round-the-clock service, crossovers, and extra tracks. A 4th track for downtown Oakland?
As to late-night service, BART shuts down for maintenance, but with more crossovers, BART could allow for maintenance by running single-track over much of its extent.
However, all these proposals will have to compete with various long-term maintenance and modernization efforts, like for the power supplies.