Neither. Both.
Reading up on BART, and BART is sui generis. It's part of that weird generation of US transit systems where we were reinventing transit (ie, the DC Metro, Buffalo Light rail) and ignoring best practices elsewhere in the world.
Why BART is weird: Non-standard track width--5' wide. So it can't re-use existing freight rail track (unlike every recent light rail and commuter rail in America). Which makes extensions preposterously expensive. (The new 'eBART' is standard gauge, btw).
Caltrain, on the other hand, does run standard gauge. And as it gets extended and electrified, it may become the 'regional rail' system for the Bay Area, rather than BART.Which suggests that, maybe, instead of extending BART, BART should be converted into a 'pure' rapid transit system, serving a limited area with very high headway.
Reading up on BART, and BART is sui generis. It's part of that weird generation of US transit systems where we were reinventing transit (ie, the DC Metro, Buffalo Light rail) and ignoring best practices elsewhere in the world.
Why BART is weird: Non-standard track width--5' wide. So it can't re-use existing freight rail track (unlike every recent light rail and commuter rail in America). Which makes extensions preposterously expensive. (The new 'eBART' is standard gauge, btw).
Caltrain, on the other hand, does run standard gauge. And as it gets extended and electrified, it may become the 'regional rail' system for the Bay Area, rather than BART.Which suggests that, maybe, instead of extending BART, BART should be converted into a 'pure' rapid transit system, serving a limited area with very high headway.
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