BART to implement service schedule changes through communications-based train control system construction period
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) will be releasing new schedule changes on Jan. 13, 2025, to accommodate the launch of construction to replace agency’s aged train control system with a modern communications-based train control (CBTC) system.
The schedule change is happening in coordination with the region’s other transit systems, as part of a collective effort to sync schedules, reduce impacts and improve transfers for transit riders in the Bay Area.The schedule changes will include minor adjustments that will affect some departure times to shift by a few minutes.
Late night construction between Colma and Millbrae for new train control system
Crews will be working on the track between Colma and Millbrae nightly after 9:00 p.m. to upgrade BART’s train control system. To reduce delays from this work, the Yellow Line will terminate at SFO instead of Millbrae.
After 9:00 p.m., BART notes Millbrae station will be served by a train that will run every 15 minutes between Millbrae and SFO only, and riders will have an easy cross platform transfer at SFO to board a Yellow Line train to finish their trip. At Millbrae, two of the four trains each hour will be timed with Caltrain’s 30-minute service schedule to provide a good transfer between Caltrain and BART.
After Red Line service ends each night, Yellow Line trains will terminate at SFO instead of Millbrae. Once at SFO, BART notes that riders heading to Millbrae will cross the platform to board the Millbrae train, it will be labeled as a Yellow Line train to Millbrae.
However, after midnight, the final four Yellow Line trains to SFO station will proceed to Millbrae (riders will not need to transfer for Millbrae service, similar to the current schedule. The final train of the evening will bypass SFO and go straight to Millbrae.
BART says this nightly service plan for Millbrae riders is expected to last several years, as the agency has prioritized this section of track to be the first area to bring on CBTC in the BART system. The CBTC system will transform BART service by enabling trains to run closer together and by updating aged equipment. BART notes a modernized train control system will enable the agency to increase projected Transbay capacity to 30-trains per hour per direction in the core system area, from the current limitation of 24-trains per hour per direction.
The big sync
Bay Area transit agencies are syncing schedules, with a focus on improving transfers between systems and making schedule changes at the same time.
Most Bay Area transit agencies are rolling out new schedules in mid-January in coordination with each other and have now aligned the timing of schedule changes twice each year, once in summer (mid-August) and once in winter (mid-January). BART notes that since 2022, the number of transit agencies with full schedule change alignment (changing schedules at the same time August and January) has increased from four to 19, for a 375 percent increase.
