Limited BART Service Returns During Commute Hours Between Pittsburg/Bay Point and North Concord

March 22, 2016
BART will run a train every 15 minutes during commute hours between North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point. There will be no bus bridge during the peak hours.

BART will run a train every 15 minutes during commute hours between North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point. There will be no bus bridge during the peak hours. During off peak hours, the bus bridge will be the only option for riders. This will be the service plan while crews continue to work towards finding a solution to the electrical problem.  BART successfully ran 1 train making many trips back and forth between the two stations on Sunday night and Monday.   

Evening Commute Details

3pm-8pm: 1 train will make trips every 15 minutes between the two stations (The bus bridge will not run but we will have 6 buses on standby if needed)

8pm-Closing: Buses only

Morning Commute Details

4am-9am: 1 train will make trips every 15 minutes between the two stations (The bus bridge will not run but we will have 6 buses on standby if needed)

9am-3pm: Buses only

Passengers coming from Pittsburg/Bay Point will need to transfer to another train at North Concord to continue their trip towards Oakland and San Francisco.

No Safety Concern for Riders

"Crews are looking over the data collected from sophisticated measurement tools that the test train was equipped with over the weekend," said Alicia Trost, BART spokeswoman.  "Experts are assisting in this process. The root cause of the spike in voltage has not yet been discovered."

There's no safety risk or concern for riders on the test trains, because the voltage spike may not even be noticeable to them, Trost said, and testing the trains with riders on board is part of the troubleshooting process.

Update on Testing

"Testing over the weekend found very short spikes of high voltage," in the area between the two stations, Trost said. "The experts are providing a fresh set of eyes to the problem. Crews have been systematically identifying all possibilities and then eliminating them one by one. While long and tedious, it will help crews get closer to the problem."

Repairing Damaged Cars

While one team focuses on finding and fixing the electrical problems, technicians in BART shops are working round the clock to repair the damaged cars as quickly as safely possible.

"The car count has improved" as crews repair more and more cars," Trost said.

Crews were able to repair around 30 additional cars over the weekend. 

"We are also exploring alternate suppliers of the parts we need," Trost said. "We are cautionsly optimistic that the car availability will be on an upward trajectory toward improvement."

A new Fleet of the Future is on the way to bring some relief to crowded cars, however, other infrastucture needs such as replacing old rails, updating train control equipment, expanding maintenance facilities and rebuilding other parts of the system must be dealt with as well.