BART Subway Trains in California's San Francisco Bay Area
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2022
- Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART for short, has been carrying riders around the San Francisco Bay Area since 1972. The operation is unique in many ways, including everything from its iconic aluminum subway cars to the 5 foot 6 inch broad gauge track system, a one of a kind for North America. September of 2022 marks 50 years of BART service. To commemorate this special occasion, I decided to put together a video showcasing BART trains - my first subway video in over seven years on the channel. Other than station platforms, the system has very few locations where the trains can be seen in action, posing an interesting challenge for this video. Most suitable locations are on the east side of San Francisco Bay, and that will be the focus of our exploration of BART. We will see the new Bombardier and Alstom built subway cars as well as the original "Legacy Fleet", which is in the process of being retired.
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I was living in Concord when they were building BART. It was originally designed to include more areas than it ended up serving although it was later expanded. The thing to realize about BART is that it is more of a commuter system than a city subway system (like London or NYC). It delivers people from the suburbs to the metro area and does a pretty decent job in that regard. If you actually need to get around the metro areas service is very limited.
I mean your not wrong Bart is kind of like the metro north railway we’re it is a commuter service and it’s third rail powered.
This is changing though. They are set to significantly increase BART's frequency with new train control and new rolling stock. The capacity of the trains themselves is also increasing. So at least from a frequency standpoint, BART will feel a lot more like a typical subway in the core system and much less like commuter rail in the spurs.
Also, the SF Muni Metro is embarking on some upgrades to make that system feel a lot more like a rapid transportation system too. There's going to be a new north-south tunnel, again new train control to improve frequencies, more level boarding stations, and a lot more grade separation and traffic priority. So at least from the point of view of the riders in the core BART system (SF-Oakland-Berkeley) the whole rapid rail system will feel a lot more like a true subway. More potential rail trips will become viable and you'll be able to do them faster and in more comfort.
Caltrain is also about to get 15-minute frequencies, fast accelerating electric trains, and level boarding. But that's disconnected from Muni and Bart in SF until 2029-2030 when they finally finish the tunnel to downtown SF. This will essentially extend subway-like service to the southern part of SF and all the way down the peninsula.
Should be a pretty cool rail system once everything that's currently in the pipeline is built and operational.
BART is a cancer that won't stop spreading. We get endless billion-dollar extensions down freeway medians instead of real regional rail along existing routes.
@@TohaBgood2 Thank goodness I'm moving to SF for University next year (hopefully)!
@@inferno7169 No, Metro• North Railroad is a commuter railroad: there IS 3rd rail capacity because of electric multiple unit trains, BUT there are diesel powered trains that operate further out, and a great portion of trains also operate with overhead catenary wiring as well because of shared trackage space with Amtrak; New Jersey Transit is completely overhead operated on some lines also because of shared trackage space with Amtrak while some lines go for themselves anyway as the remainder operates as diesel powered routes, now that's what you call railroading with many different flavors; Long Island Railroad is the same way with electric multiple unit trains (3rd rail capacity) and diesel powered trains.
However, the electric multiple unit trains CAN pass for rapid transit styled trains due to the picture windows and doors.
BART is so cool… 8-10 car trains, semi-automated, wide gauge, the tube under the bay, and has proven its success. All built in early 70s.
Well, not all built in the early 70s. The first line opened in the early-ish 70s. But BART has been adding a major expansion every 5-10 years since. In 2020 they opened the latest extension to San Jose, and they're already working on a further expansion to downtown San Jose and further into Santa Clara. There's also talk of a few other marjor expansions. A second Transbay tube has been a longtime dream and is moving through planning. They also want to eventually build a second line crossing SF from the south-east to the north-west. There are also planned extensions to conventional-rail BART extensions east from the Antioch and from the Dublin-Pleasanton terminus stations.
BART never really stopped growing and the full original dream of BART service all around the Bay Area is still a work in progress. There are a lot of lines that were on the original BART "dream map" from the 1960s that are still to be built.
@@TohaBgood2despite everything BART is such a cool system.
Whenever I’ve had the displeasure of being stuck in Bay Area traffic I always think “Damn, I should of took BART!” It’s even worse when your going a measly 5 miles per hour and a train flies by at 50+
Why hello there Bryan.
I remember riding this as a kid in the early 80's. Get on at the Concord station, ride it into San Francisco, an back. Was a great way to waste a Saturday, on the cheap
LOL... I used to do the same thing or you could hop on in Concord, and then at one of the Oakland transfer stations, take one of the legs to Richmond, Fremont or San Francisco/Daly City. As long as one didn't exit a station turnstile, you could ride back and forth all over the system on the one fare.
One of the neat things about the Richmond BART station is that it is also an Amtrak station, where the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin and California Zephyr trains can be boarded. I did a great "railfan" day trip by taking BART to Richmond, then boarded an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento, and went to the California State Railroad Museum.
@@3henry214 exactly, was a great way to waste the weekend as a kid
@@Noblemarq12 i do that on the weekends with my friend, but its usually south of union city because im too scared to go to oakland and get mugged by a crackhead
@@tankman_tv9332 yea never got off in Oakland, even in the 80's was too scared of being mugged
2:53 Funny hearing those tiny little "toot toot" horns and not "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNKKKKKKKKK"
Yeah, it's definitely something different!
About the last thing I expected from this channel was a video dedicated to BART, seeing as the videos here don't tend to feature subway trains. I was pleasantly surprised by this video! Absolutely love BART, so this was an interesting video to see your own spin on filming the San Francisco Bay Area's subway.
I always viewed the BART trains as a West Coast counterpart of the ATL MARTA and DC Metro because they are all similar in design and some of America's modern subways.
In fact, BART and the DC Metro are sister systems. With BART coming first, and being the definitive space-age metro designed by aerospace companies, BART actually inspired a lot of the trends that you see in the America's modern subways.
BART was the first system to be fully ADA accessible throughout. It was among the first to allow passengers to move between cars. It was also extremely auto-focused at the beginning with almost 100% of the expected riders having a provisioned parking space at all the stations outside of the ""Core BART System" - the job-heavy downtowns in SF, Oakland, and Berkeley. This is now changing with BART basically filling in the massive parking lots with housing and office development. But at the beginning BART was a lot more of a high-speed commuter hybrid line than it is today.
it is way better Atlanta mart the Atlanta mart gose no way and the Atlanta be empty even doing rush hour
It's very impressive to see the BART in the middle of the highway 👍🏻 Greetings from Austria 🇦🇹
The BART isn't the only subway that travels along highway medians in the States. There is also:
- The Chicago L (Red and Blue Lines and first to ever do so)
- The Atlanta MARTA (Red Line)
- SEPTA MFL in Philly (only on a small portion)
- The Baltimore Metro SubwayLink
- DC Metro (Orange and Silver Lines and the most I've ridden in my life)
I've never seen a subway system set up like this. Great video as usual! If you ever film more of Trimet Max Light Rail in Portland Oregon in the future, Could you possibly upload a video on that? I see them all the time
Its a weird hybrid of a metro and a regional rail system, closest term would be a S-Bahn in Germany.
Thank you! If I do, I will!
when is trains in California coming
Interesting! The new Bombardier trains really are a lot quieter even than the old cars with new re-profiled wheels. I thought that this might be mostly due to the better soundproofing, but it seems to be true even from the outside.
Never in a million years have I ever thought you would ever film a subway-related video
I did one a while ago, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to do a second one!
It’s not a subway
@@Tanknuggets217 Depends on where you live and where/how you use the system. In the "Core BART System" in SF-Oakland-Berkeley it's basically identical to a subway. Trains come about every 3-4 minutes. The system is mostly underground. The stations are completely urban with no parking and mostly highrise housing and office development. BART is extremely heavily interlined with most of the lines converging in that core section of the system. So you get access to multiple lines going in different directions from there.
If you live in the outlying areas where frequencies are only every 7-8 minutes, or every 15 minutes at the ends of the various spurs, then it can feel more like a very high quality regional train or commuter train. But even there BART is very similar to a conventional subway.
Now that BART is upgrading the system to almost halve frequencies to about 2 minutes it will be very hard to argue that it's not a subway-like service throughout. Most of the system will feel a lot more like a subway to the vast majority of riders.
@@TohaBgood2 it’s called rapid transit for a reason my dude. B.A.R.T Bay. Area. Rapid. Transit.
NOT BAS Bay. Area. Subway.
@@Tanknuggets217 All subways are Rail Rapid Transit! That's literally the definition of a subway. Most "subway" systems have the majority of their track above ground. Is the London Underground not a subway? How about the Tokyo metro? Also not a subway?
BART, like all metro systems or what we call a "subway system" in the US, has both above and below ground sections. The vast majority of BART's ridership is generated in the core of the system where BART actually runs underground in the Downtown areas of SF-Oakland-Berkeley.
The reason why we call all metro systems "subways" in the US is because our largest system is the NY Subway and that is the system of reference for most Americans. But even it has 40% of track its above ground with the majority of the track outside of Manhattan being above ground, just like BART! Subway in the core where it is strictly necessary, elevated everywhere else!
Awesome video! Another subway system to check out is Washington, DC’s Metro/WMATA.
Yep, BART's Eastern Twin! People say you even used to be able to use the old magstrip tickets from BART on the WMATA in the very beginning. Lots of common engineering in these two systems.
glad you could film this unique train line!
Another great one Mike! Cool subway
System and how they have been stout for over 50 years!
Nice subway trains!
This is so cool seeing my home area on your channel, some of these shots are less than a mile from my house :)
Sick right Me Too! I didn't even think of these videos until it just popped up on my page
Grew up on the Coaster, now transit on BART
I remember this one. That was a good memory train.
Great subway trains video
CoasterFan2105
I just ❤ Trains The Most
Wow I never new you saw some of those trains! Epic!
Thank you!
@@CoasterFan2105 no problem my man!
Good one Mike! I rode on Bart trains before
Thanks, Nate! They're neat subway trains.
Cool video of the subway trains from your area of the country. We enjoyed watching and have a great rest of your day.(Steve)
Fantastic video Mike
Many thanks!
@@CoasterFan2105 no problem
It's great to be a rail fan as well as a operator for this system, and recognize mostly all filming locations, except 1:53 - 2:03 my guess it's somewhere on the concord line out side of Pleasant Hill, sometimes you don't have a view of what you travel under. Great video keep them coming 👍
My two-year-old son love watching this video.
Happy Last Day of September 2022, Mister Mike Armstrong ! !
Cool video with Bart subway train. 🙂👍🏻❤️💖
Thanks!
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Trains are Awesome! 🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂
I was standing in the Powell Street BART Station in SF on the 24 after an event and feeling the air the train was pushing ahead of it blow through the station.
Awesome video love your videos. Sharing to my train group who loves them too. Tyvm for sharing with us. God bless.
That was different and fun.
Thanks, Doug! Glad you enjoyed it.
Beautifully done 👍👍
HO Scale models of the BART train cars are now going to be made.❤❤❤❤❤😀😀😀😀😀😊😊😊😊
This is a great video! Before I moved to Portland Oregon I was living in sacramento, and sometimes I just go on Bart instead of car because Bart is much better , it is good here, but I wish there was something like Bart in the Portland area, that would made Oregon much better
Good Afternoon, Mister Mike Armstrong ! !
I was just wondering if you would do a video in the Bay Area yesterday. Granted, it was about Caltrain but this will do just fine.
I did a CalTrain video last year, but there may be other Bay Area videos soon!
After Amtrak’s 50th anniversary its bart train 50th anniversary
Happy Friday ! !
Amazing
An Interesting Train and Greatly Filmed.
Im not from california but are those new or have these been in service for a while? Also great video!
I’m from the Bay Area and yes. BART has been around since the late 1960s- early 1970s. There are new models being used and replacing the old ones if that is what you are talking about.
@@kalenc515 yes, that clears things up a bit.
Both the new and the old cars are shown in this video. The older cars are the ones with horizontal blue stripes that run the length of the car. They were mostly built in the early 1970s with some built in the late 80s and early 90s. All are scheduled to be retired by the end of next year.
The new cars (which have 3 doors on the sides) entered service in January 2018. The old cars (which have 2 doors on the sides) have been around since the system opened, but were rebuilt at some point.
Stupendous
There’s a walkway over the tracks at the north end of Daly City station, it is a pretty good spot to record BART trains arriving at and departing the station
Excellent shots of the subway trains
Bart is loud noisy and non-standard width but its ours, (BayArea), its is now coming to the southbay and will be coming to downtown San Jose in the next few years.
They're working on getting rid of that screeching noise. The new cars have better wheel profiles so they're a lot more quiet overall. They also have much better soundproofing.
Magnificent
Exquisite
You filmed right near where I live! I’m in between the Lafayette and Walnut Creek stations
I'm gonna miss the older trains
This reminds me on Vancouver skytrain system the sounds are similar and most of the track on bart's system its elevated just like the Vancouver skytrain btw i just found this video and its awesome
Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Thank you
Great video Mike!!
coaster fan I love you so much you’re the best you’re the best you tuber in the whole world
My BFF told me to watch this and WOW🤯🤯🥳
wow the subways good video ❤️
Thank you!
@@CoasterFan2105 your welcome!
Nice video mike! Is it possible you could film tourist trains at the Southern California Railway Museum? It’s in Perris CA a little more than an hours worth of driving north on the I-15 from San Diego CA, and it has tons, and I mean tons of vintage rolling stock. It also has 2 of the Siemens U2 Trolley cars formerly used on the San Diego Trolley, both operational. I went there in April of this year, and it was amazing. Got to ride in one of their tourist trains, get a behind the scenes look around the area, got to see and go on vintage equipment stored indoors in their shops, and got to meet a few railfans too! Overall, I recommend this tourist line as it’s one of the best ones I’ve been to.
Classic
Nice Train Video
☘️👍🇮🇳👍☘️
Thanks!
Great metro dude!
Thanks!
Nice video Mike!
Thank you, Rhett!
Wait i didn't know your real name was Mike @CoasterFan2105
I love BART in Santa Clara.
Interesting video clip! 👍🏻🖖🏻
Excellent
Nice!
Thanks!
Fantastic video my friend👍
Amazing video dude
The old BART is better looking than the new one.the old one looks cooler.
Thank You
Excellent!!! Happy 50th Anniversary for Coasterfan2105!!!!🚇
After hearing about this in Railfan & Railroad, I was like: I gotta capture some footage before they switch to Fleet of the Future cars forever! Thanks for this!! It is really cool! I hope to railfan here in November. By the way, how much file size do your video take up? My average for super high settings is about 1GB/10 seconds. Also, are you do you have Railfan & Railroad magazine? Also, what are some of the locations of these filming spots?
What music is using that 1-hour view plus 50 trains video what song is it
I want BART in Santa Clara.
Cool video! I don’t think there are any railroad crossings where BART trains go through, right?
You mean at grade BART crossings? No, BART is a completely grade separated system with almost all its track mileage either elevated or in subways.
i when on that trains when my school fifth grade when on a school field trip.
Ok the first train is the one I have seen so Many times
I like how the embaucadero station looks like the lsia station from gta 5
BART is coming to Santa Clara by 2030.😮
Can you do a train talk video on Metrolink past present and future?
Ah BART where everything about it is different to every other railroad. I enjoyed my time working with them.
Except WMATA! And the Paris RER. And the REM. And a few more copycat commuter/subway hybrids in Asia and elsewhere. But yes, very unique system.
Looks similar to the NY/NJ Path Trains.
I Love The Bart Train I Take The Bart Train Sometimes
12:06 is that Capitol Corridor in the background?
Where was the scene at 1:56 filmed?
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner For Very Very Divine
I want them to do a toy train glore 6
I live in the Pleasant Hill Concord area
I don't want to offend anyone but I'm not from the bay area and just wondering what does Bart stand for
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Are those M3s?
4:36 where is this at
hey Mike can you make a vid at Bob hope airport train station since your in California and by the way at night like 10 PM to 1 am freight trains pass but it's a secret I'm not going to spoil it you will see the freight train
Its truely a Bay Area people mover.
Bart Simpson trains if you ask me.
Certified Fresh Vanilla Cakes For Very Very Stupendous 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
this video should be renamed to "bart yellow, and green line trains)
Can u talk about the his of Bart
🙂👍
The BART of today is so different than it started out to be... sadly some for the worse, and some for the better.
The speeds have been curtailed back, initially track speeds along the long stretches between stations (such as the trans bay tube or East Bay runs), were up to 100+ miles an hour, and BART lived up to the "Rapid Transit" in it's name. They slowed the trains down quite a bit to reduce wear and tear. But, I remember when they were so fast, that they passed everything in sight on the freeway next to them.
The trains were also a lot quieter and smoother riding too, originally the wheels/tires were not all steel, and the trains did not have the high pitched howl/wail anywhere near as what you now hear in the video. The noise going through the Trans-Bay tube is almost deafening, you used to be able to carry on a normal conversation. Quietness and smoothness sacrificed for longevity/service life... maybe the new generation of cars are better, I've haven't ridden on the system for years after retiring and COVID.
What's nice about today's system is it's range has been greatly expanded . End-to-end, the system now covers almost 60 miles, instead of the original 25 mile (or so) distance.
Calling BART a subway is a bit of a misnomer, as the majority of it's track is at grade or elevated.
The same is true for the London Underground and a ton of other "subways" all around the world. Most of the Underground is actually at-grade or elevated. Subway is just the term that we use for these types of systems in teh US, but we should probably just start calling them metros like everyone else does. Functionally, BART is more of a "subway"/metro/rail rapid transit than it is anything else. And with the upcoming nearly doubled frequencies, three-car trains, and shorter headways, it will feel even more like a subway than it already does.
Also, BART never went 100+ mph. The top design speed on the system was always 80mph. This is still the case. The infrastructure hasn't really changed and the new trains are designed to the same original 80mph spec. BART has indeed reduced the top operating speed from 80mph to 70mph, and they have claimed that this is to ease maintenance and reduce wear. But that isn't entirely true. They still run the trains at up to 80mph if there is a delay that the trains need to catch up after. The main reason is that their on-time performance is a key metric and they want to keep it up to get access to various grants. The old fleet was too mechanically problematic to keep very tight schedules. And due to the extremely heavy interlining on BART, a problem on one car, on one train, one just one of the lines was enough to wreck schedules on the entire system. That's why they relaxed the schedule and slowed all the lines down to 70mph. If there is a delay the entire system can go into overdrive and catch up to the schedule.
The current fad in the rail planning community is that on-time performance is more important than overall speed because it makes it easier for riders to plan around the fixed "clockface" schedule. But this will probably be reversed once the new fleet completely replaces the old trains and the new train control system is finished installing. The new trains are a lot more reliable leading to lower risk of a system-wide delay due to one car malfunctioning. And the new CBTC train control system will nearly halve frequencies making schedules essentially irrelevant like on a regular frequent subway.
So the 80mph official top speed may yet return to BART in a few years!
@@TohaBgood2 Calling it a metro, while otherwise fairly sensible, is... complicated by the fact that SF has a completely separate "muni metro" system, that is, perhaps even more confusingly, a hybrid subway / light rail / blended traffic streetcar system at different points on the line.
And iirc one of the issues with BART is that it uses a completely non-standard (and noise inducing, on turns) flat / non beveled wheel system. The pro is that the wheels have more grip, and this does actually (iirc?) make BART one of the fastest accelerating metro systems in the world, but the con is / was that this design is pretty terrible and causes dramatically more wear and tear on the tracks (note: everyone else apparently figured that out in the 19th century, more or less). And that ofc is directly responsible for the loud screeching noises on BART, particularly around turns, as well as all the constant year-round track maintenance that they have to do everywhere. That said the wheels did get reshaped, and the new wheels + cars are quite a bit quieter now than they used to be.
@@joem5037 Do you honestly think that BART hadn't "figured out" that flatter wheels make more noise on turns? Come on, dude. Do you think that Rohr would have let them order cars with broken wheels like that if they hadn't?
The original wheels were indeed more flat because they contained a rubber sleeve between two steel sections. This actually made BART whisper quiet, on par with rubber-tired metros. The problem was that maintenance on these wheels was very complicated and it was hard to spot defects and premature wear on the rubber. So they ended up changing those constantly to avoid invisible but dangerous wear. In the end they replaced those rubber-sleeve wheels with full-steel ones.
This wheel design does erode the track marginally more, but BART wasn't doing track maintenance "constantly". Au contraire, BART practically didn't do proper track maintenance for decades. That, compounded with the less than optimal wheel design, resulted in a lot of track wear which BART has only been actively fixing for about the last 10 years. But now the track is almost all reconditioned across the entire system, and they changed to a more conventional wheel profile, so this problem is basically gone.
A lot of people try to dunk on BART these days. And I'm with you all when it comes to safety, cleanliness, and customer satisfaction. But the actual physical infrastructure on BART is incredibly good. It really is a fantastic system in most technical respects. People need to pick something more justifiable to criticize BART over.
Ride the rails underground