BART moves ahead with Fleet of the Future contract

BART customers can expect to begin enjoying the reliability and enhanced comfort of new train cars as early as 2017.  The BART Board of Directors voted unanimously today to authorize the General Manager to award an $896 million contract, plus applicable taxes and escalation contingencies, to Bombardier Transit Corporation for design and construction of 410 train cars. The cars will be 100% assembled in America, with at least 66% American-made parts. Bombardier’s bid came in about 12 percent lower than other bidders, saving $184 million, equivalent to the cost of 104 cars. In addition to submitting the lowest price bid, Bombardier also earned the highest technical score. Two separate and independent teams evaluated more than 500 aspects of the three final bids and Bombardier came out on top. “This is an important day in Bay Area history,” BART Board President John McPartland said. “BART customers can look forward to a new generation of high-tech, environmentally-friendly, reliable train cars while taxpayers are getting tremendous value. And let’s not forget that this contract will put Americans to work right away.” Effort to Replace Entire Fleet The Board gave the go-ahead for not just the base order of 260 rail cars but also an additional 150 for a total of 410 new cars at an average cost of about $2.2 million per car. All 410 cars could be in service within eight years. That would be the first phase of a $2.5 billion project to replace all of BART’s existing 669 cars, which are the oldest in the nation, with 775 new cars. BART is paying about 25% of the cost of the new cars and the additional 75% will be federally funded through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. As BART works with Bombardier to design and build the Fleet of the Future, additional opportunities for the public to provide feedback will be offered. Current plans call for a full scale prototype car to be available for public viewing, but no timetable has been established yet.