BART Police Remove Person On Tracks In Concord; Trains Running On Time

CONCORD (CBS SF) -- A person on the tracks by the Concord BART station caused major delays during the Wednesday evening commute and had police negotiating far into the night, BART officials said.

BART police first made contact with the individual and were trying to move person out from the trackway, BART said before 6 p.m.

Fire crews and police as well as the Contra Costa County Sheriff were on the scene for the rescue operation and to assist with navigating a bus bridge and crowd control, BART said.

Trains were held and power was shut off on both of the tracks at Concord station. Trains turned back at Pleasant Hill toward San Francisco International Airport and service was shut down between Pleasant Hill and Concord.

The delays, some of which were up to an hour, affected the Antioch Line in the Antioch and SFO directions.

BART said the person on the trackway was "unstable" and the agency took extreme caution to make sure the individual didn't hurt himself. The negotiations went on into the early hours of Thursday, ending around 2:35 a.m. with the person's arrest without incident.

The 52-year-old man was subsequently placed on a psychiatric hold and criminal charges are pending, BART officials said.

"The individual is understood to be unstable and uncooperative to the rescue personnel. The personnel are working to rescue him safely and prevent further harm," BART said on Twitter.

Train service between the two stations resumed as normal at the start of BART's service schedule early Thursday morning.

BART apologized for the delays for thousands of riders' evening commutes.

"It is very difficult to replace BART's capacity and we are thankful for our regional transit partners," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said.

KPIX 5's Andrea Nakano contributed to this report.

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