BART service on San Francisco-bound trains coming from the East Bay experienced severe delay Tuesday morning because of multiple emergencies and wet weather.
The delays, reported shortly after 7 a.m., were a result of at least six medical emergencies within three hours, all involving passengers who fainted on trains traveling through the Transbay Tube.
- 7:17 a.m.: Report of a passenger collapsing on Pittsburg to SFO train. The supervisor responded, but the passenger declined medical treatment.
- 7:45 a.m.: Report of a passenger fainting on a Dublin to Daly City train. Medic responded, but the passenger refused medical treatment. No further information regarding a delay was available, BART said.
- 8:17 a.m.: Report of an unspecified incident on a Fremont to Daly City train. Passenger refused medical treatment.
- 8:40 a.m.: Report of a passenger passing out on a Pittsburg to SFO train. Medics responded.
- 9:45 a.m.: Report of a passenger falling in a Fremont to Daly City train. Passenger declined medical treatment.
- 10:03 a.m.: Report of a passenger passed out on a Pittsburg to SFO train. Passenger redused medical treatment.
BART spokeperson Alicia Trost said that BART has paramedics standing by at Embarcadero and West Oakland stations on non-holiday weekdays during the peak travel times of 6:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Trost did not know the reason behind the medical emergencies. When asked whether overcrowded BART trains could have been a factor, she said: "We do not know. People faint for a variety of reasons and we are not doctors."
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.
Local
A small fire on BART tracks in Oakland about 11:20 a.m. caused delays of up to 20 minutes for trains in the area. Crews responded and extinguished the fire within 20 minutes while rerouting trains to the other tracks in the area.
The small blaze caused BART to take that track out of service for more than an hour. The track was brought back into service shortly before 12:45 p.m. and trains are resuming normal service early Tuesday afternoon, a dispatcher said.
