BART is confirming reports in the Chronicle that there will be several days of BART closures in the very near future – as in no trains, all day and all night.
A BART spokesperson told NBC Bay Area the exact dates have not been decided. Transit officials said the plan wouldn’t be finalized until Wednesday.
The Chronicle report indicates BART plans to stop all train service on two separate occasions over five days. The first time will apparently take place over the first weekend in August. The other would take place over the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend. Buses would run between stations instead of trains.
The closures, which will halt service on the Transbay Tube, are necessary for what BART calls extensive track upgrades. Transit officials said it’s similar to the work being done between the Fruitvale and Coliseum stations, where aging wooden ties and rails are being replaced.
BART has budgeted $20 million in the next fiscal year to replace old track and plans to spend an additional $30 million every year after for the next decade.
Most of the tracks on the 43-year-old BART system “are reaching the end of their useful life,” the newspaper reports.
On average, 90,000 riders make the trip between San Francisco and the East Bay Every weekend day.
