BART's board approves Bombardier car contract

Earlier this week, Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) board voted unanimously to award an $896 million contract to Bombardier Transportation for the design and construction of 410 rail cars.

Through BART’s “Fleet of the Future” program, the cars will be completely assembled in the United States and feature parts at least 66 percent American-made, agency officials said in a prepared statement. Bombardier submitted the lowest bid, which was 12 percent lower than other bidders, and earned the highest technical score based on a number of factors, they said.

The board approved a base order of 260 cars, as well as another 150 cars, for a total of 410 new cars, which will cost an average of $2.2 million a piece.

All the cars could be in service in eight years. The order represents the first phase of BART’s plan to replace all of its 669 cars, which the agency claims to be the oldest in the nation. BART will cover about 25 percent of the new cars’ cost and the rest will be funded with federal dollars through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

“Customers can look forward to a new generation of high-tech, environmentally-friendly, reliable cars while taxpayers are getting tremendous value,” said John McPartland, president of BART’s board.