Medical Emergencies, Equipment Problems Lead To BART Delays

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – BART service suffered further delays late Tuesday morning because of an equipment problem between the 19th Street and MacArthur stations in Oakland, a dispatcher said.

Crews responded around 11:20 a.m. to a report of something smoldering on the tracks between the two stations, the dispatcher said. The problem is causing delays of up to 20 minutes for trains in the area, he said.

BART service had just gotten back to normal prior to the equipment problem. Multiple medical emergencies and wet weather had caused earlier delays of up to 20 minutes for San Francisco-bound trains coming from the East Bay.

The BART dispatcher said the delays, reported shortly before 9 a.m., were a result of at least four medical emergencies within an hour, all involving passengers who fainted on trains traveling through the Transbay Tube.

Trains also had to travel at slower speeds than normal because of stormy weather in the Bay Area this morning, the dispatcher said.

BART service began to recover later in the morning and was back to normal, briefly, as of around 11 a.m., the dispatcher said.

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