SAN FRANCISCO – Here’s something you don’t hear very often in 2024: a rail transit project coming in under budget. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) did just that with its order for new “Fleet of the Future” cars. Thanks to a revised schedule, and an accelerated monthly delivery rate of the new cars, the project is expected to cost $394 million less than when the contract was awarded in 2012.
“There’s no question the Fleet of the Future project is a success story,” Project Manager John Garnham said in a statement. “Riders love the newer, cleaner modern feel of the cars and now we have great budget news for the project.”
The original contract was awarded for 775 cars at a forecasted project cost of $2.584 billion, but an October 2023 financial update lowered the forecast by 15%, to $2.190 billion. Over the course of 11 years, BART and the manufacturer, Alstom, have increased the pace of constructing and delivering the cars, resulting in significant savings.
The original delivery schedule called for the delivery of 10 cars a month, but BART worked with the manufacturer to increase the rate to 16 cars a month, saving more than $100 million.
Another big cost saver was BART’s decision to have its own staff do more of the engineering work in house. The project team has included engineers who have successfully completed new rail car projects at other agencies.
The delivery schedule is now faster than ever – 20 cars a month are being delivered to BART – and, as of December 31, 2023, 672 of the 775 cars were on BART property.
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