New BART Trains Will Come Just In Time for San Jose Opening

Now that BART is just a few years away from coming to San Jose, we can talk about some of the improvements that you can expect to the system in addition to just the new stations. BART is spending well over $2 billion to replace its aging fleet of 669 train cars and add 300 extra train cars to support increased ridership and future expansion.

The new trains will be quieter, cooler, more comfortable, bike-friendly, and have digital signage on the inside (which you can see in the video down at the bottom). They will also have 3 doors per car instead of 2 in order to make it easier and faster to get in and out of the train. This is especially important since BART functions not only as a commuter train but as a Metro system in dense areas (SF, Oakland, and eventually Downtown San Jose).

I really hope this will be a system we can be proud of since we will be living with these trains for the next 30 or so years. So far, the plan looks pretty solid. The first 10 "pilot cars" will be delivered in 2015, the first batch of new train cars will do into service in 2017, and the rest of the cars will be delivered over the next four years. .

Sources: BART, SVBJ