brouhaha , vor 2 Monaten

@foone Are you asking about the Antioch line, or some other new stuff? The original BART lines are third-rail electric, which is why they can't have any at-grade crossings. Unless something has seriously changed in the dozen years I've been away.

foone OP , vor 2 Monaten

Okay apparently they are mostly electric, I just managed to misread the Wikipedia. Carry on, BART

polpo , vor 2 Monaten

@foone I think it’s funny that eBART is the part that is not electric despite the “e” prefix

ids1024 , vor 2 Monaten

@foone You may be underestimating how weird the diesel part is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBART extends an existing BART line with 9.1 miles of track, using diesel trains and standard gauge track. It has just a transfer station and two new stations. This was not existing track or anything, it was built specifically to extend an existing line, because it's apparently cheaper than electrifying a 9 mile extension?

Want to go from "Pitsburg / Bay Point" to "Pitsburg Center"? One stop, but change train.

freakazoid , vor 2 Monaten

@foone Most of it is electric. It's just the 9.2 mile Antioch extension that's diesel. Doing it that way apparently saved them half a billion dollars.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/05/98874-nothing-conventional-about-it-bart-begins-new-diesel-train-service

gsuberland , vor 2 Monaten

@foone presumably they're diesel-electric? if so for any electrified areas they can run without the diesel. no idea if any of it is electrified though.

matzipan , vor 2 Monaten

@foone it was supposed to be electrified at some point. The line was upgraded and new lokos were bought.

wollman , vor 2 Monaten

@foone maybe now that Caltrain has proven that it is possible to run wires over a railroad track, eBART can get upgraded to the current thing too.

eichin , vor 2 Monaten

@foone all the stories I keep hearing about PG&E make it sound like no, they don't...

foone OP , vor 2 Monaten

@eichin good point. We probably don't want to trade any more towns for having bart be electric

fclc , vor 2 Monaten

@foone if data centre colocation electricity costs are to be believed, they don’t

humanhorseshoes , vor 2 Monaten

@foone Cost of electrification vs convenience. Diesel doesn't need wires.