May 12, 2008 10:08 am US/Pacific
BART Limits Delays Following Weekend Fires
HAYWARD (BCN) ―
Two Saturday morning electrical fires have limited the number of Bay Area Rapid Transit trains running between the Bay Fair and Fremont stations, creating confusion among commuters Monday morning, a BART spokesman said.
However BART train service is running better Monday than officials had anticipated and there have not been reports of system-wide delays, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
To prevent system-wide delays, BART officials modified the Richmond-Fremont train line, which is not running south of the Bay Fair station.
The change means only the San Francisco-Fremont line will reach the Hayward, South Hayward, Union City and Fremont stations for an estimated six to eight weeks. According to Johnson, one train will pass through those stations every 15 minutes instead of two and some passengers will have to transfer at the Bay Fair station.
"There's a lot of confusion among passengers," Johnson said Monday.
He advised commuters at the affected stations to listen to announcements and said that officials Monday morning increased the frequency of the announcements from every 10 minutes to every five minutes.
Commuters at the Hayward, South Hayward, Union City and Fremont stations are also encouraged to arrive 10 to 15 minutes early.
The speed of trains running south of Hayward is being reduced to 25 mph and one of the reasons for only operating one line in the area is to avoid backups and "ripple effects throughout the whole system," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, the cause of Saturday's electrical explosions remains under investigation and Johnson said it could take weeks or longer to determine.
The electrical fires occurred Saturday morning and impacted power facilities and the control tower at BART's Hayward Yard, which hosts about 25 percent of the transit agency's 669 train cars.
An estimated monetary damage caused by the fires was not immediately available.
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