BART Blames Manufacturing Defect For Broken Rail; Says No Danger Of Another Break
OAKLAND (KCBS)— BART blames a manufacturing defect for the broken rail that delayed trains for six hours two weeks ago. The good news is that they say they've inspected the rest of the rails and didn't find any other flaws.
The bad batch of rail caused a public transit nightmare Wednesday, May 6th. BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost says there was a flaw in the 10-inch piece of rail that broke off.
"There were some hydrogen bubbles from the manufacturing process. That was a bad batch of rail from the manufacturer we originally got it from," Trost said.
That piece of rail raised questions about whether or not any part of the rest of the rail could lead to similar problems.
"We inspected all of the rail from that batch. There are eight different locations on the system that have rail from that batch. We've tested it and no conditions that caused us concern were found," Trost said.
It's still not clear if the hydrogen bubbles weakened the rail so much that it gave way, or if something else caused it to break, but investigators are confident the rest of the rails, on which the trains are riding, are safe, and there's no danger of another break.