BART Plans to Order New Cars in May
Last summer we told you about the proposed new BART cars and seats. Today SFGate reports that BART plans to order the first batch of these cars in May.
BART plans to buy a slick new ride – 260 new rail cars – for about $1 billion in May. The cars will sport a sleek modern look, cleaner seats, digital information displays, even air conditioning that works on hot days. And if transit officials are pleased, and can come up with another $2 billion or so, they’ll buy another 515 cars.
Don’t get too excited, though. After BART orders the new cars and the contract is awarded, the first of the test batch of new cars may arrive at the beginning of 2015.
Read the rest of the report.
So what will happen to the old trains? They are old, but could probably be upgraded with new electric panels inside and obviously recovering the seats. $1 billion is a lot of money.
According to a BART official interviewed about the new car order, by the time the last old BART car is retired it would have been in service for 50 years. So the old cars will be around for some time to come.
Old trains are often sold to other cities or countries, but give Bart’s somewhat unique design, they might just be scrapped. Maybe a few will be kept in reserve or sent to Washington DC, where they have a similar system.