BART completes first of five new substations

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) recently completed construction of a substation facility at the Civic Center Station in San Francisco. 

It's the first brand-new substation facility to be built since the original BART system was constructed in the 1960s, BART officials said in a press release.

Energized in late April, the new substation increases the energy available to power trains by nearly 18%, which helps increase reliability and operational flexibility for the entire system, BART officials said.

The new substation also features advanced monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, meaning technicians can quickly identify and repair problems. BART can also source power from the new substation to mitigate system impacts such as service delays. 

The facility is the first of five substations in BART's Transbay Corridor Core Capacity Program (TCCCP), a series of planned investments that will enable BART to increase the number of trains it operates, with the goal of powering up to 30 trains per hour in both directions of the Transbay Tube between San Francisco and Oakland.

The next substation to be completed will be located at Montgomery Street Station; completion is expected sometime this year.