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50 years of BART: Everything found in BART’s 30-year-old time capsule

The plaque for the 1992 time capsule.
An assortment of the items found in the capsule.
Dirt from the Market Street Subway groundbreaking, 1967.
A circuit board from the Operations Control Center.
A coaster from the 1991 groundbreaking of Dublin/Pleasanton and West Pittsburg stations.
A cassette tape featuring a KCBS special on BART for its 20th anniversary
An Automatic Train Control component.
Source code for the Computer Automatic Block System.
A 20th anniversary t-shirt.
A VHS Tape documenting the 1991 BART extension.
A survey marker from BART’s construction.

Thirty years ago, on BART’s twentieth anniversary, we buried a time capsule deep in the ground at Lake Merritt Station and Plaza in Oakland.

Until recently, only BART employees from three decades ago knew what lay inside. But, on the occasion of our 50th anniversary, BART recently pulled the time capsule from the earth and peered inside.

The silver metal container stands about two-feet-high. When we unburied it, we discovered inside 60 items. The contents include objects acquired from the inception of BART onwards, with plenty of 20th anniversary merch. There was dirt from the Market St. Subway groundbreaking in 1967. There was a survey marker from BART’s construction. And, befitting the 90s era, a cassette, VHS, and magnetic tape containing source code for BART’s old Computer Automatic Block System.

Some train equipment made it in the capsule, wedged among t-shirts and labor agreements, business cards and employee signatures. Among the equipment was a circuit board, a thyristor that controls motor current, and Automatic Fare Collection equipment that made the fare gates and ticket machines work.

In all, the time capsule reminds us of not just BART’s history, but the history of the Bay Area at-large. It transports us back in time – to an age of Tamagotchi and Nirvana – and helps us look toward the future. BART is, after all, burying a time capsule to be opened in 25 years, on our 75th anniversary. On Saturday, Sept. 10, public officials took to the stage at Lake Merritt Station and Plaza to deposit items in this new time capsule. The additions included a Clipper card, Fleet of the Future socks, a Not One More Girl poster, a BART 50th t-shirt, a resolution from 1992, a personal handstrap, a 2022 BART Pride sticker, a BART pandemic mask, some of the best tweets from the BART Twitter account, and a 50th anniversary pin given to employees for the occasion. 

Look through the above slideshow for some highlights from the 1992 time capsule and click here for a full catalogue of the items held within.