BART legacy fleet phased out to make way for ‘Fleet of the Future’
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — It’s the end of an era for BART. Last weekend was the final time people were able ride on the agency’s original cars. A big crowd turned out to bid them a fond farewell after 52 years of service.
Over five decades, the cars have gone from “transportation of the future” to relics of the past. The idea for BART came about in the late 1940s, but it would be another three decades before the plan for a unified Bay Area transit system bore fruit.
It began as a futuristic fever dream… that nearly didn’t come true. The wild plan to alleviate post-war traffic in the Bay Area came close to complete derailment.
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After decades of legal and financial wrangling, BART arrived, although it was not as far-reaching as originally hoped. But it was one of the quietest railways in the country with tracks mounted on rubber dampeners and rails welded together to eliminate the “click clack.”
The characteristic screeching of today’s BART is caused by decades of wear on the tracks. More than 100 million trips later, people lined up around the block at MacArthur Station to take one final ride on the original BART cars running on their original line to Fremont.
After five decades, these trains are history, replaced by BART’s “Fleet of the Future.” The legacy fleet has been shipped off to nearby fire departments and away to museums, with most destined for the scrap yard.
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