BART commuters on the Pittsburg/Bay Point line had a nightmare commute Tuesday evening, after one of the transit agency's trains somehow managed to damage both the track and the third rail, disabling service in both directions.
It all started at around 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, when, according to BART spokesperson Alicia Trost, a piece of BART train wheel called a flange flipped off the train just north of Pleasant Hill.
"It somehow damaged the track in a really horrible spot; right at an interlocking at a crossover. It impacts both sides of the tracks, so we can’t even single track around it," Trost told KCBS.
As a result, service between the Walnut Creek and Concord stations screeched to a halt, stranding, the Chron reports, thousands of commuters and forcing them onto communication-challenged buses to ferry them between stations. Bay City News Managing Editor Dan McMenamin was one of the stranded, and tweeted the whole thing:
Mess at Walnut Creek BART as they kick people off eastbound trains, people try to push onto it b4 it turns back wb pic.twitter.com/8xFYUhyqex
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
BART is kicking people off every other eastbound train at Walnut Creek and turning it around back west, I was on an unlucky one
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Happy crowd now heading SF-bound after making it to Walnut Creek BART station by bus bridge or otherwise pic.twitter.com/naecM7mp4x
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Next eastbound BART train only going to Pleasant Hill, then turning back around, who knows about the rest of em pic.twitter.com/dmKddIm2z8
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
With a couple from Antioch that left at 430 to go to the Giants game, still waiting for a sf-bound train
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Somewhat dubious of BART saying the next train will go all the way to Pittsburg/Bay Point after this one is being turned around at PH
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Another BART train at Pleasant Hill turning around to SF, getting the feeling there will be no more eb ones past here pic.twitter.com/mMuMGnOrTx
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Now they're saying a train will be coming from Concord to Pleasant hill, taking people here at PH then going back to Concord. Huh?
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
But next train pulls up and is actually going to SF, not back to Concord, a huge mess of miscommunication, BART is seemingly messing with me
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
Commute direction is EAST, but BART is sending all trains back WEST, stranding huge crowds trying to go to Concord and further. Why?
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
LOL the supervisor at the station told us the next train was going to SF, but THIS is finally the one taking us east. Perfect ending/
— Dan McMenamin (@djmcmenamin) August 27, 2014
According to Trost, Wednesday's commute should be a normal one, saying that as of 3:20 this morning, "I checked in with the Operations Control Center and they report that enough repairs were made overnight that BART expects normal service on the Pittsburg/ Bay Point line upon opening."
However, questions still remain, as Trost says that "I have no further details on exactly what happened to cause the damage to the track and incident train. Track and train experts will need to do a complete assessment and investigation to determine the cause."
