A two-car eBART train undergoes testing in the middle of Highway 4 between Hillcrest Avenue and A Street/Lone Tree Way on Friday evening, July 1st. photo by Allen Payton

First of many tests over the next two years

The BART to Antioch Extension Project marked another important milestone Thursday morning, June 30th, with BART unveiling its sleek new diesel-powered trains, soon to be seen linking Pittsburg/Bay Point and Antioch down Highway 4’s median.

“We’ve been working on the arrival of BART to this part of the Bay Area for years, so it’s both thrilling and a bit surreal to finally be here aboard these amazing new vehicles,” said BART Director Joel Keller. “We couldn’t have made BART to Antioch happen without the long-term dedication of East County residents, and the commitment of the many leaders at the local, regional, state, and federal levels who came alongside us to help turn this visionary project into reality.”

The new train cars will run on separate tracks extending past the existing Pittsburg/Bay Point Station, and are a different type than those arriving in BART’s new Fleet of the Future.  This Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) was chosen to bring rail service to East County residents while remaining cost-effective; the $525 million, 10-mile extension to Antioch is 60% less expensive than conventional BART. Stations for the new service will be located along Highway 4 near the Railroad Ave. intersection in Pittsburg and the Hillcrest Ave. intersection in Antioch, with all eight new vehicles set to arrive by this December prior to a year of state-mandated testing for safety and functionality.

A two-car eBART train could be seen undergoing testing in the middle of Highway 4 heading westbound from Hillcrest Avenue, about 6:15 p.m. Friday evening, July 1st.

“This is an exciting milestone with the first testing of the train on the tracks,” Keller added in a brief interview. “We’re still shooting for a May, 2018 opening, once we get the state approvals. This is the first of many tests.”

The new train cars, rated the most environmentally friendly out of all diesel-powered trains, will be able to move an estimated 2,400 people per hour during commute times, and boast a variety of amenities including six digital signs per vehicle (with multiple language support), automated audio announcements, clear station arrival / destination signage, and modern climate control systems.  Daily ridership of the BART extension to Antioch is expected to exceed 10,100 by 2030 through the Highway 4 corridor, with an initial expected daily ridership of 5,600.

BART to Antioch is part of the nearly-complete Highway 4 Widening Project, which expands Highway 4 from four to eight lanes between Loveridge Road in Pittsburg to just west of State Route 160 in Antioch, and from two to four lanes from Lone Tree Way in Oakley to Balfour Road in Brentwood.  The project provides greater mobility and access to multi-modal transportation, not only expanding lanes and building missing connector ramps at the State Route 160 interchange, but also providing funds for BART to Antioch.

The project has been carefully staged to keep the daily traffic of 130,000 cars moving, even as major construction and demolition work continue.

“The arrival of these new BART vehicles and the beginning of testing is a visible reminder of the progress being made to further economic growth and improve access to jobs and vital services for East County’s 250,000 residents,” said Dave Hudson, Chair of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. “The Highway 4 Widening and BART to Antioch projects would not have been possible without either the backing of Contra Costa voters in 2004, or the help of partner agencies. We look forward to continued public support for additional innovations and improvements on the Highway 4 corridor in the future.”

Average travel time between stations is expected to be seven minutes between Antioch and Pittsburg Stations, and three minutes between Pittsburg and Pittsburg/Bay Point Stations.  The new stations will use the same BART fare collection machines and gates used elsewhere in the BART system, with full service set to begin winter 2017/2018.

For more information visit the project page.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

A California-legal bullet button on a semiautomatic rifle. (www.gunsamerica.com)

Key part of a historic gun reform package

Sacramento – On Friday, July 1st, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Senator Steve Glazer’s legislation to ban the so-called bullet button, a key element of a historic gun reform package approved by the Legislature a day earlier.  Glazer, D-Orinda, is joint author with Sen. Isadore Hall, D-Los Angeles, on the bullet button ban, SB 880.

A bullet button assault-style rifle was used by the shooters who killed 14 people and wounded 21 in the San Bernardino terrorist attack last year.

“This isn’t about hunting or home protection,” said Sen. Glazer. “This isn’t about taking people’s guns away. I believe everyone has a right to hunt and to protect their families from harm in their home. It’s about a mechanism on assault-style rifles whose sole purpose is to allow someone to kill a lot of people quickly.

“We need to make it more difficult for a deranged person to enter a schoolyard, movie theater, or workplace with a rapid fire weapon. This measure is another small but important step in making our communities safer.”

Existing law prohibits the possession or sale of assault weapons and limits magazines to 10 rounds. But a loophole in the law – allowing guns with fixed magazines to be modified with a simple “tool”– had led to the manufacture of assault-style guns with magazines that can be easily detached – contrary to the spirit of the assault-weapon ban. The magazines are equipped with a button that can be pressed by a bullet or other tool to quickly detach the magazine. Since the magazine requires a tool, it was considered “fixed” and therefore legal.

To see the full text of the bill, visit the California Legislative Information website.

Opponents argued that the language in the bill was vague, among other things. According to the Firearms Policy Coalition website:

Senate Bill 880 (authored by Senators Hall and Glazer) attempts to subvert long-standing law regarding the definition of “detachable magazine”and “fixed magazine”. It relies on unclear, undefined language such as “without disassembly of the action” or “does not have a fixed magazine”and seeks to prohibit the purchase, inheritance, sale, transfer, transport, importation and manufacture of the most common and popular protected weapons of the modern era.

In Governor Brown’s signing message, he noted that the bullet button bill and certain others in the package “enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.”

“Gun makers have exploited a loophole in the law that expressly prohibits assault weapons in California,” Glazer said. “We’ve seen the horror of these weapons with mass murders. We should not allow weapons that are designed specifically for modern warfare to proliferate on our streets.”

Glazer worked as a senior staffer for Sen. President Pro Tem David Roberti in enacting a ban, in 1989, on assault weapons in California, the first state in the U.S. to do so. As mayor of Orinda, he was a charter member of the national organization, “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.”

For more information about the bullet button see the article on The Trace website by clicking here.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.