Fire On Track Shuts Down BART's Walnut Creek Station
WALNUT CREEK (CBS SF) -- The Walnut Creek BART Station reopened Saturday afternoon after equipment on a track caught fire, a Bart spokeswoman said.
The closure triggered massive delays, officials said.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said equipment burning on the Oakland-bound track, forcing the closure at 3:10 p.m.
As of 4:25 p.m., BART crews were given the okay to operate trains on one track in the station.
Firefighters from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District responded and extinguished the fire. A BART crew inspected the track before the station reopened, Trost said.
A bus bridge between the Lafayette and Pleasant Hill stations will not be set up now that trains are moving again.
Passengers can still travel on BART between Pleasant Hill and Bay Point or from Lafayette through the rest of the system, Trost said.
Smoke and a strong odor were reported on one train that was taken out of service. The fire was on the station's Oakland-bound side.
There were already delays on the San Francisco lines because BART had shut down service between Glen Park in San Francisco and Daly City to attempt to fix a notoriously noisy stretch of track known as the Balboa Curve.
The Balboa Park Station was closed and travelers using the system to get to San Francisco International Airport were experiencing lengthy delays.
BART estimates the repair work would impact about 40,000 people.
