National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers International
HISTORIC MECHANICALENGINEERING LANDMARK1972
BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT
BART HAS BEEN THE PROTOTYPE FOR MOST MODERN RAILTRANSIT SYSTEMS. THE INTEGRATION OF MANY NEWENGINEERED COMPONENTS INTO A UNIFIED SYSTEM WASA KEY TO ITS SUCCESS. THE FIRST BART CARS INTRODUCEDEXTRUDED ALUMINUM CAR BODY SECTIONS, 70 FEET LONG,AND A NEW GENERATION OF TRANSIT-CAR TRUCKS. INNO-VATIVE VENTILATION AND FIRE-CONTROL SYSTEMS MADETHE 3.6 MILE TRANSBAY TUBE PRACTICAL.
ASME
International
(American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
19971997 NL 116
From the Front Line
T
he San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is proud to berecognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) International as a Historic Mechanical EngineeringLandmark. To receive recognition from such an esteemed groupof engineering professionals is indeed an honor, and it seems par-ticularly fitting that it comes as BART observes its 25th anniversary of
revenue service.
This document outlines many of the specific engineering innovationsthat were pioneered by BART and were considered by ASME’s Historyand Heritage Committee in its deliberations. Mechanical engineeringplayed and continues to play a major role in the viability of BART as atransportation provider. We have attempted to put BART and theseinnovations in a historical context and to illustrate the importance of afully integrated system to meet the complex transportation needs of agrowing region. Above all, we have attempted to underscore the signifi-cance of the era in which BART began — the mid-1960’s — when theworld, and America in particular, was on the eve of a veritable techno-logical revolution. BART is proud to have been at the vanguard of suchinnovation in the rapid transit industry.Today, BART continues to be a prospector, never resting on its pastlaurels, always pushing the envelope. Currently under way withinBART’s own research and development group is the development of awhole new automatic train control and protection system — usingglobal positioning technology proven so effective during the Gulf War.This Desert Storm technology, as it has come to be called, is expectedto give us the ability to operate many more trains on the system at onetime than is now possible — creating a moving block system asopposed to the current static block system. Trains will then be able tooperate much closer together, at two minute intervals or less, whilemaintaining full train protection. When this effort comes to fruition in afew years, it promises to be a major breakthrough in the industry.Meanwhile BART is moving forward on several other fronts. We are car-rying out a $1 billion dollar system renovation program over the nextten years. Also, with almost 24 miles of newly completed extensionsnow up and running, we are embarking on an 8.7-mile project toextend the system to the San Francisco International Airport. When theproject is completed in the year 2001, it is expected to be one of themost heavily utilized lines.The organization is very proud of its engineering heritage and looks tothe years ahead with the same entrepreneurial spirit that created thesystem in the first place.
Thomas E. Margro
General Manager
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BART History and Photos
A special document prepared on the declaration of BART as an historic landmark.
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