BART trains are expected to resume regular service this morning after crews worked overnight to repair an electrical problem that crippled the transit system Sunday, a spokesman said.
Workers spent the night and early morning in BART’s Transbay Tube where a power loss at around 1:50 p.m. prompted officials to shut off all power to a set of tracks used by East Bay-bound trains for the rest of the day.
The first trains of this morning’s commute, which begin arriving at the Oakland side of the tube at around 4:30 a.m., are expected to run at full service and on time, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
“They don’t anticipate that there will be any issues with the morning commute,” Johnson said.
Sunday’s incident started when smoke was reported around 1:50 p.m. on the tracks in the tube that take trains from San Francisco to Oakland, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said.
An electrical issue caused a loss of service to a substation near the entrance to the tube from the Oakland side, BART officials said.
The malfunction prompted BART officials to shut down power to one of the two sets of tracks.
The smoke spread to the other side of the tube where trains come into San Francisco from the East Bay, so the entire tube was shut down, Johnson said.
At 2:40 p.m., trains began to travel again on the side of the tube that usually brings trains into San Francisco, but there are still major delays because trains headed to the East Bay are also running on those tracks, Johnson said.
Trains between Pittsburg / Bay Point and San Francisco International Airport are the only ones operating through the tube on a single track, BART officials said.
Other westbound trains are turning around at the MacArthur station, while the remaining eastbound trains are turning around at Embarcadero station.
The only trains relatively unaffected by the problem are those that run between Richmond and Fremont, officials said.
Despite the service setback, BART offered additional trains to accommodate the fans leaving the Coliseum after a Raiders game.
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