BART service stalled in East Bay during Friday night commute

OAKLAND -- Three BART stations in Oakland were reported closed about 9:40 p.m. Friday because of an equipment problem on the track, the transit system said.

The closed stations were MacArthur, 19th Street Oakland and 12th Street Oakland City Center, BART said on social media.

The closings followed an announcement of major delays systemwide.

BART service was stopped between Ashby, West Oakland, Rockridge and Lake Merritt Stations, the transit system said.

According to the transit agency, AC Transit was providing assistance via Bus #62 #14 #18 to serve West Oakland, 12th Street, Lake Merritt and Fruitvale stations. Bus #72 was serving 12th Street and 19th streets and MacArthur station. Rockridge station was served by #51B and Ashby #F.

The Friday night meltdown was the latest service disruption passengers have experienced in recent weeks. On Monday, smoke on an eastbound train at MacArthur station required the evacuation of passengers from the vehicle, leading to a brief closure of the station and two hours of significant delays.

In late July, a power outage and a fire at a substation closed several East Bay stations and impacted service for several days.

In that service outage, firefighters extinguished the fire in a BART electrical room between 19th St. Oakland and Fruitvale stations hours after initial delays. About 300 passengers were evacuated, the fire department said. Two days later, the problems were persisting. On Aug. 8, the system suffered a network computer meltdown that for a time shut down multiple East Bay stations, severely delaying service on the Berryessa line. 

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