BART's board OKs purchase of 365 rail cars, objects to family-leave provision in labor contract

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) board yesterday approved a contract for an additional 365 state-of-the-art rail cars as part of the agency's fleet replacement program.

The additional vehicles will join 410 other cars already on order from Bombardier Transportation to create BART's "Fleet of the Future," agency officials said in a press release.

Purchasing the additional cars now will save BART about $128 million under the Bombardier contract by shortening the project by 21 months, they said.

"Replacing our existing fleet is essential to BART's commitment to be a world class, sustainable public transportation system," said BART President Tom Radulovich.

The first cars are expected to arrive in less than two years. Ten pilot cars are scheduled to be delivered in summer of 2015, followed by comprehensive testing of the pilot cars on BART's system. Deliver of the 765 remaining production series cars is expected to occur between early 2017 and 2021.

Also yesterday, BART's board voted to accept the $67 million labor contract that its two largest unions approved but only if a certain provision is removed. In recent days, the agency's management team discovered that the contract "inadvertently" included in the final package a provision for six months of paid family medical leave.

"We hope the unions will take the agreement minus the six weeks of additional paid leave that was mistakenly included in the final document back to their members," said Radulovich in a statement issued after yesterday's vote. If the union members ratify the contract minus the provision, the board authorized the general manager to sign the contract without another board vote, he said.

Meanwhile, the agency announced this morning that its entire service was shut down today due to "major computer problems affecting the entire system."