Limited BART Service Returns To Richmond's Red Line
RICHMOND (CBS SF) -- Five-car BART trains began running on Richmond's Red Line Tuesday morning after being knocked out of service earlier this month by a power cable failure.
While the service was still limited, its returned was a welcomed relief for the thousands of daily commuters who have been forced to use a makeshift route to head to and from work in San Francisco.
Although the broken cable has not yet been repaired, the transit agency is rerouting power in the interim from redundant substations in the system.
"This break in cable limits our ability to run full service on both the Red and Orange lines with 10-car trains," transit officials said. "Over the weekend, crews successfully tested the option of running shorter trains using current power levels available to us."
Earlier this month, BART lost power along portions of the Richmond line due to a break in the original 34.5 kV power cables that were scheduled to begin replacement the same week the damage occurred.
The break came in the cable between the El Cerrito Plaza and Ashby stations that General Manager Bob Powers said has been in use "for a long, long time."
BART will continue to run the shorter five-car trains while crews repair and eventually replace power cables.
Both the Red and Orange line will be running on the regular published schedule, including Red line trips to SFO via Millbrae, BART officials said.
BART crews reconfigured trains Monday night with the goal of having full Red line service when BART opens Tuesday morning.
In the event of cancelled Red line trains during this transition, riders are advised to take an Orange line train and transfer as needed the same way they have been during the recent stoppage of Red line service..
Officials provided no estimate when the repairs would be completed and 10-car trains would resume service.
Additional information can be found on the BART.gov website.