In yet another unintended consequence of the repeated delays facing San Jose’s BART extension, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is purchasing 48 rail cars for the South Bay that will run throughout the BART system and have the wear and tear of more than a decade of use before they ever travel through downtown San Jose and up to Santa Clara.
Keeping the cars in storage isn’t an option, according to Tom Maguire, VTA’s chief megaprojects officer.Instead, the 48 rail cars will be integrated into BART’s current fleet and run system-wide for at least a decade before the next phase even opens. VTA will also have to shell out $4 million every year to cover operating and maintenance costs on the cars.
“The economics of transit rail car and fleet purchases are very much driven by large-volume orders.Typically, properties order 700 to 800 cars at a time when they buy cars for heavy rail systems,” Maguire said. “The price we would get for a 48-car order would be extremely uncompetitive with what we’re looking at now.”
“If I have a child and they’ll turn 16 and start driving, I’m not going to buy a car for them when they’re born so that by the time they’re 16 that car will be worth a lot more,” said Lee, who along with San Jose Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei and Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley voted no on the purchase. The option was chosen largely to avoid digging up chunks of the street that would disrupt businesses in downtown San Jose. To assuage criticism that the agency never analyzed whether the twin-bore was the cheaper option of the two, Maguire told The Mercury News earlier this year