CB Cars
The CB (pronounced “See-Bee”) cars were C cars with parts removed, making them midtrain only C cars. In essence, these were B cars with the body and equipment of C cars. These CB cars were needed to ensure there were enough cars to provide weekday peak commute service before COVID.
Throughout the 2010s, BART had among the highest utilization rates of any US rapid transit fleet - especially notable given the age of the cars (the oldest dating back to 1970).
With heavy ridership before the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside delays with the Fleet of the Future, shop forces worked hard to ensure enough cars were available for revenue service every day of the week.
Throughout the 2010s, BART had among the highest utilization rates of any US rapid transit fleet - especially notable given the age of the cars (the oldest dating back to 1970).
With heavy ridership before the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside delays with the Fleet of the Future, shop forces worked hard to ensure enough cars were available for revenue service every day of the week.
Example of a CB car with a modified number plate - the B indicates that although this car is a C2 car, it functions as a B car (midtrain only)
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As can be expected, long trains require lots of cars - in particular, these were B cars and midtrain C cars. The B cars' utilization was somewhat short of extreme - up to, and sometimes eclipsing 90% of all 380 of them were in service on weekday peak commute hours (and the remaining 10% under maintenance). C car utilization was slightly lower (~85%), but still, BART always needed midtrain cars (be it B cars or C cars). A creative solution to ensure adequate car availability was to cannibalize parts from certain C cars (reusing them on other C cars needing parts), and use the cannibalized cars as Automatic Train Operation (ATO)-less C cars. In essence, they became B cars with the body and equipment of C cars. |
Internal records show that the C1 cars rolling as CB cars were labeled “CB1” cars and the C2 cars were similarly named “CB2” cars. This page will use those names.
The CB cars were no longer needed with the reduced service associated with COVID. They were scrapped in 2021 and 2022.
CB1 Cars
CB1 345
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The CB1 cars were all C1 cars, without ATO equipment. They were taken out of service in the pandemic.
345 - Scrapped 1/2022 382 - Scrapped 3/2022 389 - Scrapped 2/2021 439 - Scrapped 10/2021 |
CB1 439 with old Barcode car label
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CB1 381 with Zoho One ad wrap ("Zohomobile")
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CB1 389
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Cab of 381
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The cab of 381 noted its role as a CB1 car.
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CB2 Cars
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The CB2 cars were all built as C2 cars, and became CB cars in the late 2010s-2020. The C2s (and CB2s) exited revenue service in 2020.
2505 - Converted to CB by 3/2020. Scrapped 3/2021 2507 - Converted to CB in 2019/2020. Had B sticker on car number plates, 2/20. Scrapped 4/2021 2509 - Converted to CB in 2010s. Scrapped 3/2021 2543 - Converted to CB in 2010s. Scrapped 5/2021 2556 - Stored in deadline in 2019. Reactivated as CB car shortly before COVID. Scrapped 3/2021 |
CB2 2509
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CB2 2543
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Last updated: 5/2/23
