C2 Cars
Car No: 2501-2580; Built: 1994-1996; Service: 1995-2020; Builder: Morrison-Knudsen
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The second order C cars, the C2 cars, were ordered in 1992, at a cost of roughly $1.7 million per car (financed locally), and entered revenue service in 1995 and 1996. They were built by Morrison-Knudsen. Car shells were sourced from Germany, and final assembly was at Hornell (first 5 cars) and Pittsburg, CA (following 75 cars). My understanding is that this facility (formerly the US Steel Plant) is now used to build the new BART Fleet of the Future cars.
The delivery of these cars helped provide service to the new expansions of the system: Pittsburg/Bay Point (1996), and Dublin/Pleasanton (1997). By the late 2010s, their main home yards were mainly Concord and Hayward, and ran on the Yellow line, Green line, and Blue line, generally speaking. 
C2 cars midtrain
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C2 car 2532 in 2019, one year left in service.
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As a whole, these cars were regarded as the least reliable and most problematic car type. One measure of reliability the Mean Time Between Incident showed that the C2 cars had the lowest of the fleet - 112 hours for C2 cars, compared to 153 hours for A2 cars, about 370 hours for B2 cars, 161 hours for C1 cars.
They reached their end with the COVID-19 pandemic (with reduced service requiring fewer cars). They were stored, for good, across the system starting around May/June 2020. A train of roughly 8-9 of them was seen testing shortly before the opening of Berryessa and Milpitas, and a few were out in service, briefly, in June 2020. Scrapping wise, 2528 was the first to go in November 2019. After storage across the system and one-by-one scrapping, the final C2 car, 2558, was scrapped in August 2021.
They reached their end with the COVID-19 pandemic (with reduced service requiring fewer cars). They were stored, for good, across the system starting around May/June 2020. A train of roughly 8-9 of them was seen testing shortly before the opening of Berryessa and Milpitas, and a few were out in service, briefly, in June 2020. Scrapping wise, 2528 was the first to go in November 2019. After storage across the system and one-by-one scrapping, the final C2 car, 2558, was scrapped in August 2021.
Interior of C2 car 2512
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They were extremely similar to the Alstom built C1 cars (Fleet no 301-450) that preceded them. For general infomation on the C car design, see: C1 cars. There were many minor differences from the C1s, and at the end, the most visible contrast was the interior (seats/armrest were different in color, alongside the red ADA lights on the windscreen railing), and cab details. They were the bread and butter for the Green Line, alongside a large presence on the Blue line and usually midtrain on the Yellow Line (Hayward and Concord yards).
They used the Westinghouse 1463 motor with chopper control, the same type used on BART since the early days. Thus, they had the characteristic buzzing/humming during acceleration and braking, akin to the C1 cars still rolling today. |
General Details
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Builder: Morrison-Knudsen
Original Assembly Location: Hornell, NY (First 5 cars), Pittsburg, CA (Remaining 75) Years of Construction: 1994-1996 Quantity: 80 Length: 70 feet Weight (Empty): 63,500-64,100 lbs Seats: 69 (original), 56 (last) Propulsion: Westinghouse DC Chopper drive with 4 x 150 HP Westinghouse Model 1463 motors Brakes: Knorr dynamic/regenerative to 3 mph, Hydraulic friction braking below 3 mph. Auxiliary Power Supply Equipment (APSE): GE HVAC: Wabco, 14 ton Truck: Fabricated Steel or Cast Steel Electronic Horn: Federal Signal Coupler: Wabco N3 Preventative Maintenance: Every 600 hours Cost: $141.6 Million Avg mileage: 2.4 Million miles |
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Construction
Some newspaper clippings on the early days of the Morrison-Knudsen built C2 cars (in service from 1995-2020).
Newspaper clippigns are art of the Therkelson Collection, Prelinger Library, and the pictures are part of the Western Railway Museum Archives. The digital scans are from a virtual collection of the MKayan magazine.
The car bodies were built in the Linke-Hofmann-Busch plant in Salzgitter, Germany.
Click on each photo for more details.
Newspaper clippigns are art of the Therkelson Collection, Prelinger Library, and the pictures are part of the Western Railway Museum Archives. The digital scans are from a virtual collection of the MKayan magazine.
The car bodies were built in the Linke-Hofmann-Busch plant in Salzgitter, Germany.
Click on each photo for more details.
C1 vs C2
There were very minor differences between the C1 and C2 cars. Early on, the C2s featured flip-up seats (similar to eBART) in the ADA space. Minor differences existed in the operator console and cab. By the late 2010s, the most visible contrast to the riding public was the interior (seats/armrest were different in color, alongside the red ADA lights on the windscreen railing). Certain C2 cars had blue floors in an experiment to gauge public opinion for the floor color of the Fleet of the Future.
Click the photo gallery to view captions.
Click the photo gallery to view captions.
CB2 (and CB1) Cars
A few C2 cars, and some C1 cars, were converted into essentially B cars. The lack of fully functioning ATO equipment, and other equipment in some cases, resulted these cars only running midtrain during revenue service. They retained their C car propulsion package and seating.
Click on each photo for the full size image.
Click on each photo for the full size image.
Scrapping
The C2 cars were scrapped in Oakland, CA from 2019 to 2021.
Click on each photo for the full size image.
Click on each photo for the full size image.
Car-by-car Roster Photos
Click on each photo for more details.
2501-2525
2501 - Built 8/1994?
2505 - CB2 Car
2507 - CB2 Car
2509 - CB2 Car
2516 - Extremely heavy Y end front white paint chipping, (due to wash rack acidity) since 2008
2524 - Y end front white paint chipping
2505 - CB2 Car
2507 - CB2 Car
2509 - CB2 Car
2516 - Extremely heavy Y end front white paint chipping, (due to wash rack acidity) since 2008
2524 - Y end front white paint chipping
2526-2550
2527 - Low intercar door sticker
2528 - Lead car of train involved in fatal accident on Oct 19, 13. Stored at Hayward yard c.2019. First revenue car to be officially retired (of the 669 car count), Nov 8, 2019.
2532 - Hinge window mod Demonstration car
2539 - Experimental BT-3 tapered wheel profile car. Scrapped 1/31/20
2543 - CB2 Car
2547 - Hard braking during station stop
2550 - Lowest MBTI of C2 cars
2528 - Lead car of train involved in fatal accident on Oct 19, 13. Stored at Hayward yard c.2019. First revenue car to be officially retired (of the 669 car count), Nov 8, 2019.
2532 - Hinge window mod Demonstration car
2539 - Experimental BT-3 tapered wheel profile car. Scrapped 1/31/20
2543 - CB2 Car
2547 - Hard braking during station stop
2550 - Lowest MBTI of C2 cars
2551-2580
2556 - Stored in Deadline at Hayward Yard, 2019. CB2 Car.
2571 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2573 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2574 - Used as Hayward Test Track car after A car 164 (temporary)
2575 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2580 - Last BART revenue car built for 20 years. "Have a Nice Day" on sunshade.
2571 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2573 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2574 - Used as Hayward Test Track car after A car 164 (temporary)
2575 - Seen in "Nash Bridges" Night Train (TV Episode 1996)
2580 - Last BART revenue car built for 20 years. "Have a Nice Day" on sunshade.
Updated: 6/30/22, 10/1/22, 10/16/22
