A loud bang and subsequent smoke situation filling Embarcadero Station Tuesday morning caused a fright for some commuters and inconvenienced others, but as BART explains, it was just a blown insulator that insulates the electrified third rail from the ground. The station was smoky from the time of the blow-out at 10:50 a.m. until about ten minutes later, and the East Bay-bound train that was in the station at the time of the incident was able to resume on its route by 11 a.m. Other SF-bound trains passed the station by due to smoke, according to Twitterers.
BART moving slow thru TransbayTube. Engineer just announced we're not gonna stop @ embarcadero because there 's smoke there. Always somethin
— prozac Effron (@DaveBurian) July 18, 2017
Bart personnel are fixing it now. It was a scare with all the smoke. Expect delays into east bay. Train stuck @ embarcadero. #sfbart #bart
— Hannah (@Hanajang3) July 18, 2017
BART spokesperson Taylor Huckaby explained to the Chronicle, "There was an insulator, which is a track component that insulates the electrified third rail from the ground, that blew at Embarcadero. Sometimes that happens whenever there is a buildup of oxides on the insulator. They occasionally will then ground, which causes the insulator to fail."
The were subsequent 20-minute delays in the East Bay-bound direction as a result of the incident.
Related: Major BART Delays After Smoke Fills 16th Street Station
