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Despite the District’s claim, I still wonder if the Southern Pacific had a hand in the choice of a non-standard gauge, to help make sure they’d never be ordered
by wsh 4y ago
Despite the District’s claim, I still wonder if the Southern Pacific had a hand in the choice of a non-standard gauge, to help make sure they’d never be ordered to take over BART and bear its operating losses. That risk might seem slight today, but it would have been more of a concern in that era, years before Amtrak, when railroads were being required by their regulators (ICC and CPUC) to operate other unprofitable passenger services.
As the posting concedes, “The pamphlet does not specify why only the wide gauge of five-feet-six inches was tested and not others.”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- RC_ITR 4y agoWell that and to prevent the forced addition of a third rail to their existing trackage in any future expansion.
- flomo 4y agoThis probably goes both ways, where BART wanted a computerized control system and not have to deal with legacy rail systems.
- m0llusk 4y agoThere was little if any cooperation like that. The BART engineers were there own little tribe and let people know from up on high how things would go. This wasn't just the choice of gauge, it was everything about the design. In particular the collision avoidance system was conceived with very little input and took many years to sort out. The idea that BART engineers took input from Southern Pacific or anyone else has no supporting evidence and is counter to what is known about how they operated.