BART’s first 10 new rail cars were approved to start carrying passengers by the state Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday night. The long-awaited approval came in a letter to BART General Manager Grace Crunican from Elizaveta Malashenko, director of the PUC’s safety and enforcement division. “Please consider this letter an approval to operate the new 10-car consist in revenue service, she wrote. Later, Malashenko added: “Congratulations on achieving this milestone.