Passenger Trains > New BART cars taking the long way home

Back in January I spotted a BART car being hauled south on I-15 here in Utah and I figured it was going the long way to avoid all the snow problems over Donner.  But on our way home from LA last month, I spotted 2 of the BART "Fleet of the Future" cars at the Love's truck stop east of Apex, NV.  Was suprised to see them here, any one know what the routing is and why?  Because of where I've seen then, I'm guessing the route is I-87 South from Plattsburgh, NY where they are assembled, I-80 west to Salt Lake, I-15 South to Barstow, Highway 58 over Tehachapi, then Highway 99 or I-5 through the Central Valley.  I know the final destination is Pittsburg, CA, but I don't now if they'd go 580 to 680 to 4, or take the backway through Byron.  Seems like a big loop to avoid Donner.  I found this article below on BART's website about some of the process, it takes 6 days.  And the final delivery is by truck from Pittsburg to Hayward which has a test track that the cars can do some burn-in miles on before starting service.  Haven't been back to the Bay Area in 5 years and just missed catching a ride on the new cars then. Hopefully I can check them out on a future trip.

https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2022/news20220414-0#:~:text=BART%20is%20currently%20taking%20delivery,manufacturing%20plant%20in%20Plattsburgh%2C%20N.Y.

Nathan

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I saw one on I-35 in Austin, TX a few months ago

 

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It is a shame they aren't shipped by train.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> It is a shame they aren't shipped by train.
>
> Posted from Android

Agreed

atx_railfan Wrote:
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> I saw one on I-35 in Austin, TX a few months ago
>
>  

Another unexpected spot.  Wonder what drives the variety in routings.

Saw another one of these on I-80 just west of Elko yesterday afternoon. I know there are certain times of the year when California requires all trucks on Donner to carry chains, and it’s not uncommon for trucks to take the long way around to avoid having to do that. Given we were still getting snow into early April that may have been enough to keep the cars going the long way. But that’s just my guess.

As for why trucks are handling deliveries instead of trains, I found this quote:

“It might strike one as a little inefficient–and maybe even risky–to deliver train cars by truck. But BART trains use wide-gauge tracks, so they can’t roll on the national rail network (even if they were the right gauge, there are a host of regulatory and technical complications). They could potentially be placed on flat bed railway cars instead of trucks, but Bombardier decided “The air ride on a truck is better than the vibration the cars would get via rail,” explained Trost.”

Above from:
https://sf.streetsblog.org/2016/03/15/new-bart-cars-on-the-way/

I also found the following which provides a couple insights to the transportation and delivery process:

https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2022/news20220414-0

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Posted from iPhone

I've had 2 different times I saw them, about a month apart. Westbound, I-70, out of Cheyenne, heading towards Laramie. My wife took a photo of one, but deleted it before I posted it. The other was opposite direction and no time for a photo. I too thought it odd they wouldn't ship by rail. 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

JDLX Wrote:
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>They could potentially
> be placed on flat bed railway cars instead of
> trucks, but Bombardier decided “The air ride on
> a truck is better than the vibration the cars
> would get via rail,” explained Trost.”

I've always wondered why a ride on the rail would
be smoother than a ride over American highways.
Assume it's the slack action between cars and
couplers?  I recall seeing box cars with a "Cushion
Car" logo - I guess it never paid to adapt that to a
flat car.

/Mitch

Mgoldman Wrote:
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> JDLX Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >They could potentially
> > be placed on flat bed railway cars instead of
> > trucks, but Bombardier decided “The air ride
> on
> > a truck is better than the vibration the cars
> > would get via rail,” explained Trost.”
>
> I've always wondered why a ride on the rail would
> be smoother than a ride over American highways.
> Assume it's the slack action between cars and
> couplers?  I recall seeing box cars with a
> "Cushion
> Car" logo - I guess it never paid to adapt that to
> a
> flat car.
>
> /Mitch

There's plenty of flat cars out there with end of car and center sill cushioning. But what they were referring to with the trucks was the smoother ride because the trucks and their trailers have air ride which reduces the vertical bumps and jolts.

mcdeo Wrote:
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> I've had 2 different times I saw them, about a
> month apart. Westbound, I-70, out of Cheyenne,
> heading towards Laramie. My wife took a photo of
> one, but deleted it before I posted it. The other
> was opposite direction and no time for a photo. I
> too thought it odd they wouldn't ship by rail. 

That would be I-80. I-70 is further south, through the heart of Colorado.

And BART's Hayward yard, where all these cars are going, has a direct spur off the Capitol Corridor Hayward line.  The spur is even signaled.  And yet, they won't use it....

coach Wrote:
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> And BART's Hayward yard, where all these cars are
> going, has a direct spur off the Capitol Corridor
> Hayward line.  The spur is even signaled.  And
> yet, they won't use it....

It's the builder who makes the decision how to ship their product. Is there an "in service" rail spur to the builder's plant?

I am a OTR truck driver, I have seen these cars just about everywhere going every direction. I am not sure if they are being moved to different facilities to be finished or not, but I gave up on tracking my sightings of them.

The people on the board would be interested. Tim