Regular BART service has been restored for this afternoon’s commute, following delays earlier today caused by power lines that fell onto the tracks between the Coliseum and San Leandro stations, a BART spokesman said.
A third-party forklift driver hit and severed two PG&E lines near 92nd Avenue and San Leandro Boulevard in San Oakland at about 12:40 p.m.
“A PG&E power line was knocked down by some private company, leaving PG&E and BART to have to clean up somebody else’s mistake,” BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
He said that a train hit a power line, causing some damage to the train but no injuries.
“One of our trains did run into that power line and it broke some windows on that train and caused some damage to our trackway,” Johnson said.
The incident also affected some PG&E customers in the area.
“PG&E and BART worked closely together to resolve the situation in a timely manner,” utility spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.
Service to just over 1,000 PG&E customers was affected when the lines were initially downed, and 300 customers were still affected at about 3 p.m.
Sarkissian said she expects service will be fully restored by 4:30 p.m.
BART, which temporarily used buses to transport passengers between the Coliseum and San Leandro stations, has reopened the tracks. Residual delays were up to 45 minutes on certain lines, but Johnson said delays were minimal at 3:30 p.m.
