Update on New BART Cars from Bombardier

The A cabs that had their cabs removed were converted to regular B trailers.

ExCon90 wrote:

Head-end View wrote:Just amazing that the original planners of BART's fleet in the 1960's never thought of that. What fools!

There was a prevailing feeling in the 1960's that professional railroaders didn't know anything and new thinking was required; I don't know how many of the designers had practical operating experience. Two examples: 1) as I recall, a 4-second pause was built in after the doors closed until the train automatically started, intended to provide time for the last-boarding passengers to be seated; the same interval was built in between the train stop and the opening of the doors, evidently because someone envisioned the passengers remaining seated until the train came to a stop--obviously someone unfamiliar with contemporary rapid-transit operations--so that upon arrival at a station the detraining passengers, who were of course already standing at the doors, were obliged to stand there for four seconds until the doors opened. 2) An acquaintance was on a peer-review committee to evaluate the design of the cars while still in the design stage; on pointing out that the cars had no collision posts he was told "oh, this will all be computer-controlled--there won't be any collisions."

except that the reality in the Bay Area is that many don't get up until the train stops.

Possibly learned behavior from the doors? One thing that struck me from the beginning of BART was the orderly way in which at the Market St. stations people line up in a column of twos precisely at the yellow markings where the doors are going to be, and if the arriving train isn't theirs they step aside to let those behind them pass through--all this without any signs or exhortations to do that. The BMT used to have four lines serving the Manhattan express stations, with platform markings for the trains, and nobody took the slightest notice; it was a free-for-all when a train arrived. Another characteristic: on my previous visits, announcements at the Market St. stations have been made by a male voice for trains in one direction and a female voice for the other direction; is that still the practice?

ExCon90 wrote: Another characteristic: on my previous visits, announcements at the Market St. stations have been made by a male voice for trains in one direction and a female voice for the other direction; is that still the practice?

I have noticed that as well; I thought it clever.....

That should still be the case.

yep, though i'm not sure where the male/female cutoff is on each line.

The new Bombardier cars are being delayed.
http://sfist.com/2017/03/06/barts_fleet ... roll_o.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i saw the one test set by the union station yard…

Fleet of the Future expected to begin passenger service in September | bart.gov

BART’s new Fleet of the Future train cars are moving closer with every test to being ready to carry passengers. On July 18th, a new phase of testing began when the new cars started runs on the main tracks without passengers during business hours. The goal is to have the new cars carrying passengers beginning in late September.

The 10 pilot cars had already completed 42 weeks of testing on the main tracks since last November during non-business hours. That was preceded by months of runs along test tracks at our Hayward Maintenance Facility that began after the first pilot car arrived in April 2016.

...
The new pilot cars have already undergone more than 50,000 miles of qualification testing. There are 391 tests in all – everything from whether the train stops at the black tiles at the station platform to critical safety tests.

They expect to have 35 new railcars by the end of the year.

No new BART cars before the New Year, but agency says 'soon' (2017 Dec 29). They are still having trouble with their new railcars. But BART now has 28 new railcars, with 2 on the way.

BART wins approval to put first Fleet of the Future train into service | bart.gov "You can expect to see the first train in service as early as Friday afternoon."

But at this stage, I'm inclined to believe it only when I see it. Though I will be satisfied by seeing it indirectly.

actually it looks like the first train set went into service on the 19th: https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2018/news20180119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

will be running on warm springs → richmond line weeknights and all day weekends.

Titled link: BART's new train cars now in service | bart.gov -- apparently the 10 that have been used for tests. Another 10 are currently being tested, and production should go up to some 16 - 20 cars per month. BART has currently ordered 775 cars and it is seeking funding for an additional 306 cars for Silicon-Valley service.

I will now estimate how well those 10 cars can hold down initial service: Richmond - Warm Springs on weeknights and weekends. The one-way travel time is 1h 8m and 1h 9m, making 2h 17m total. The trains run once every 20 minutes, making 7 trains necessary. If the 10 cars are split onto 5 2-car trains, then that will almost but not quite be enough. If they are split as 3 - 2 - 2 - 3 or 3 - 4 - 3, then roughly one out of every two trains will have the new railcars.

The new cars are being operated as a single 10-car set. I believe they cannot couple to the older cars.

So the new train would be 1 out of 7 or maybe 8 in the route.