Heat forces BART to slow down trains between Concord, Pleasant Hill for 2nd day
CONCORD – Due to the extreme heat, Bay Area Rapid Transit was again slowing trains Wednesday, a day after the hot temperatures forced train service to stop between two Yellow Line stations.
"I just missed it by about an hour," Jason, a passenger on an Antioch-bound train told KPIX 5. "And thankfully I didn't get stuck in that."
Equipped with a personal fan, and a head start on his afternoon commute, Jason wasn't taking any chances after Tuesday's heat-related shutdown between Pleasant Hill and Concord.
"You don't want to get stuck in a lot of these trains when is packed during those hours," he said.
There were really two problems Tuesday: First, the track shifted in the heat. Then they couldn't single-track the trains because the switching systems had also overheated. Thus the bus bridge.
"So, normally a train would go 70 mph over that area," explained BART Spokesperson Alicia Trost. "We reduced the speed of 44."
When temperatures reach 100 degrees, BART slows the trains in this area. That's a rule implemented after a derailment in June, also caused by tracks failing in the heat.
The agency is now using Measure RR funds to improve air conditioning for the track equipment.
"Also looking at ways as to how you can keep rail and track components cooler," Trost told KPIX 5.
Heat waves are expected to become more common, so BART is trying to improve its track monitoring, but they say at a certain point, it simply gets too hot, too fast.
"It's not a matter of the rail, it's a matter of the ambient temperature and how quickly it rises," Trost said of the track problems. "We get asked frequently about Phoenix. Well, it's light rail so they don't run trains as fast. And Phoenix is used to extreme heat, there's a consistent amount of extreme heat."
