BART Service Between North Berkeley And Richmond Restored After Fire On Tracks
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- A fire on the BART tracks in El Cerrito halted service on the Richmond line in the East Bay Thursday night for about an hour, according to BART officials.
The @SFBARTalert Twitter account posted shortly after 5:30 p.m. that an equipment problem had stopped service between the North Berkeley and Richmond stations.
BART service has stopped between Richmond and North Berkeley in the Warm Springs, Richmond and Millbrae directions due to an equipment problem on the track.
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) September 20, 2019
Some Twitter users commenting on the post suggested that there could be a possible fire on the tracks, but there was no confirmation from transit officials.
BART officials later clarified that the problem was "a blown equipment issue." AC Transit bus lines 79 and 7.
No service between Richmond and North Berkeley is still in effect. @rideact is providing mutual aid on bus line 79, which connects Downtown Berkeley and El Cerrito Del Norte station, and bus line 72, which run from Richmond to Berkeley on San Pablo Blvd
— BART (@SFBART) September 20, 2019
BART later confirmed that there was a fire on the tracks at the El Cerrito Del Norte station. El Cerrito firefighters are working to extinguish the fire, according to BART.
Officials said BART service was restored on the Richmond line shortly before 6:30 p.m. Riders should expect some residual delays.
BART is recovering from an earlier problem. Service has been restored on the Richmond line. Expect 20 minute delays in the Richmond, Warm Springs and Millbrae directions.
— BART Alert (@SFBARTalert) September 20, 2019
The equipment problems comes after a fatal train strike of a person who purposely got on the tracks at the Powell Street station in San Francisco shut down the station and limited service for about two and a half hours.