BART’s very first new train car (train car 3001) is almost done and is getting ready for a cross country ride back to the Bay Area atop a flatbed truck from New York to Hayward.

This new car will undergo tons of testing with a target date of being put into service in December 2016.

The new BART “Fleet of the Future” should be quieter, cooler, easier to clean, quicker to board and there’s three doors per car for cramming on passengers instead of two.

And we’re personally grateful for new digital signage on the outside of every car that will be color coded – just like the BART map. So that means we’ll be less likely to board a train for Fremont when we really want to go to Berkeley simply because we had our heads buried in our iPhone, not paying any attention.

Meet the Fleet: New train car gets ready to head West

BART’s first new train car is nearing completion and getting ready for a cross country journey from Plattsburgh, New York to BART’s test tracks in Hayward, California. Train car 3001 is scheduled to be loaded onto a flatbed truck for its trip home late next month.

Once it arrives it will undergo rigorous testing before being put into passenger service – a target date of December 2016.

Bombardier Transit Corporation is building BART’s Fleet of the Future. The new cars were designed with input from our riders. To date, over 35,000 people have offered input that has helped BART and Bombardier make design decisions. The new cars will be:

• Quieter: “micro-plug” doors will help seal out noise
• Cooler: cooling systems will distribute air directly to the ceilings, making it more comfortable for standees on hot days
• Comfortable: padded seats will be covered with wipeable fabric for ease of cleaning
• Easy to use: routes will be color coded like the BART system map, and next stop information will be readily available via automated announcements and digital screens.

BART’s goal is to order 1,081 new train cars, increasing the number of seats in the fleet by 49%.

Read more on bart.gov