Man Walking On Tracks Causes Major Delays For Morning BART Commute
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- After a hectic morning that involved a man climbing on top of a BART train and effectively shutting down the MacArthur station, BART service was back on schedule Thursday afternoon, a BART spokeswoman said.
BART officials learned there was a man on the roof of the station around 5:30 a.m., spokeswoman Luna Salaver said. Authorities talked him down, but then "he started running around," she said.
The man went onto the tracks, climbed on top of a train, and also ran onto nearby state Highway 24, causing the California Highway Patrol to briefly shut down some lanes.
BART shut down power to the train and also to the tracks to prevent the man from hurting himself, Salaver said.
With the tracks powered down, trains could not pass through the station, and riders were held on the stopped trains, she said.
The man was finally detained at 7:12 a.m., Salaver said.
The 29-year-old man is being mentally evaluated and faces possible arrest after he is observed, Salaver said.
By 10 a.m., residual delays from the stopped trains had ended and BART service was back on time, Salaver said.
Kiana Lunasco, a passenger at the MacArthur station Thursday morning, said the man climbed on top of her train around 6:30 a.m.
"He jumped the fence and ran onto the freeway," she wrote in a tweet.
BART's morning was further complicated when a train broke down, disrupting service coming out of Richmond.
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