CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (KRON) — BART gave the public a sneak peek at the train cars which will eventually run along the new East Bay route between Antioch and Pittsburg.
KRON4s Charles Clifford was in Contra Costa County on Wednesday. He had a look at the new trains and has details on when commuters will be able to ride them.
On Wednesday afternoon in Antioch, hundreds of people came to check out BART’s new diesel-powered train cars. Each train is air conditioned and can hold up to 200 people. And they can travel a mile-and-a-half on a gallon of fuel.
In all, BART has purchased eight of these cars for its new eBART route between Antioch and the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station. Visitors seemed to like the new trains.
The train cars are undeniably nice. They even have that new train smell.
But commuters will probably have to wait at least a year to ride them.
When the trains eventually do go into service, they will be able to travel the 10 miles from Antioch to the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station in about 10 minutes. That sounds good to commuters like Barbara Goodrich.
She spends hours commuting across Contra Costa County every day.
“The buses don’t run consistent,” Goodrich said. “They run like every hour, every 30 minutes. That’s too long. If you miss a bus, then it’s bad. You’re late for work. A train would be better. Much better.”
BART says the entire eBART project will cost about $520 million, which is less than half of what it would have cost to extend traditional BART service to Antioch.