Close the BART car doors, HAL.
September 29, 2005 3:50 PM Subscribe
Has BART ever operated regularly without drivers?
When I was a kid, BART was widely popularized as being computer-controlled, and was touted as being able to run without on-train operators. Having recently moved to the Bay Area, I find it somewhat strange that every BART does in fact have drivers, even though it's pretty clear from the way that the drivers hang out of the cars at the stations that the trains are accelerating and decelerating at the station on their own. Googling didn't help -- it's clear that BART can run on its own, but it's not clear if they've ever run it this way.
When I was a kid, BART was widely popularized as being computer-controlled, and was touted as being able to run without on-train operators. Having recently moved to the Bay Area, I find it somewhat strange that every BART does in fact have drivers, even though it's pretty clear from the way that the drivers hang out of the cars at the stations that the trains are accelerating and decelerating at the station on their own. Googling didn't help -- it's clear that BART can run on its own, but it's not clear if they've ever run it this way.
even though it's pretty clear from the way that the drivers hang out of the cars
Are you sure those are the drivers? In New York's subway (and on the PATH light rail, which is probably more analogous to BART) there are usually two crewmembers on every train, an engineer actually driving the train from the front, and a conductor whose job is actually to look out the window as a train enters the station (I assume to monitor platform activity) and make announcements and all that good stuff.
Sorry if this is only tangential to your question, but if you are actually seeing the conductors than it might indicate the trains are completely human-driven (even though the switching is automatic; I think most systems these days use computer-driven switching/signaling systems).
posted by cyrusdogstar at 7:20 PM on September 29, 2005
Are you sure those are the drivers? In New York's subway (and on the PATH light rail, which is probably more analogous to BART) there are usually two crewmembers on every train, an engineer actually driving the train from the front, and a conductor whose job is actually to look out the window as a train enters the station (I assume to monitor platform activity) and make announcements and all that good stuff.
Sorry if this is only tangential to your question, but if you are actually seeing the conductors than it might indicate the trains are completely human-driven (even though the switching is automatic; I think most systems these days use computer-driven switching/signaling systems).
posted by cyrusdogstar at 7:20 PM on September 29, 2005
Best answer: but it's not clear if they've ever run it this way.
No, BART has never run trains without operators. I think there was some hope when the system was in its planning stages that this would be possible, but in fact computer problems (in the early days) and safety concerns (for example, drivers can control when the doors close) resulted in not trying to run these trains without operators.
Plus, the trains had lots of mechanical problems in the first couple of years (untried vendor, new technology, an incredible number of moving parts, etc.), so having an operator on-board to trouble-shoot (or, worst case, inform passengers that the train was going out of service) was pretty important.
posted by WestCoaster at 9:27 PM on September 29, 2005
No, BART has never run trains without operators. I think there was some hope when the system was in its planning stages that this would be possible, but in fact computer problems (in the early days) and safety concerns (for example, drivers can control when the doors close) resulted in not trying to run these trains without operators.
Plus, the trains had lots of mechanical problems in the first couple of years (untried vendor, new technology, an incredible number of moving parts, etc.), so having an operator on-board to trouble-shoot (or, worst case, inform passengers that the train was going out of service) was pretty important.
posted by WestCoaster at 9:27 PM on September 29, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
from answers.com
posted by fishfucker at 4:37 PM on September 29, 2005