Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 30, 2007

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is a heavy rail public rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area, including the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City, Richmond, Fremont, Hayward, Walnut Creek, Concord, Martinez, and Pittsburg/Bay Point. BART also serves Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno, San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae and has connecting service to Oakland International Airport using AirBART buses. The acronym BART is pronounced as a word, not as individual letters. BART comprises 104 mi of track and 43 stations. The system uses a broad rail gauge, as opposed to the  standard gauge predominantly found in the United States. The broad gauge was selected to provide greater stability in part due to the planned Golden Gate Bridge route and to provide wider seats, aisles, and a smoother ride for the lightweight aluminum and fiberglass cars. Trains can achieve a centrally-controlled maximum speed of 80 mph and provide a systemwide average speed of 33 mph with twenty-second station dwell times. Trains operate at a minimum length of three cars per California Public Utilities Commission guidelines to a maximum length of 10 cars, spanning the entire 700 ft length of a platform.