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Meet the Fleet: New trains will showcase many environmentally friendly features
The engineers tasked with designing BART’s Fleet of the Future faced an unenviable feat: creating train cars even more environmentally friendly than the current ones, which are already among the nation’s best on that score.
“These are going to be extremely energy-efficient cars,” said Henry Kolesar, BART’s group manager for vehicle maintenance engineering. Kolesar and a handful of other top managers and engineers are shepherding the last steps as the Fleet of the Future becomes the fleet of the present. Four of the new cars are already on site for testing at a Hayward test track, and the first ones that regular passengers can ride are expected to be in service this winter. (For the full timetable go to www.bart.gov/cars.)
Rob Diridon, Sr., retired Emeritus Executive Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute, and an internationally reknowned transit expert, noted that “while the old cars lasted a long time due to their design and great maintenance by the BART staff, the new cars will be even more effective with their unique, sustainable design.” Read more and see the photos. Image above is of self-adjusting LED lights.