BART Delays Lead to Frustrating Morning Commute

​A pair of mishaps led to BART commuters this morning having plenty of extra time to get to know their fellow passengers.

A mechanical failure that took a train out of service at West Oakland station exacerbated an earlier delay near Fremont when the high-voltage third-rail was exposed on the tracks.

The 6 a.m. third-rail incident near Fremont was described as a "cover board problem" by BART spokesman Linton Johnson. The cover board is just what it sounds like it is -- it covers the electric third rail. Portions of it came off near Fremont, which required trains to slowly single-track it through that stretch.

Later this morning, a train subsequently developed mechanical problems, and was taken out of service at West Oakland. This resulted in delays as long as 25 minutes for some commuters and led to continuing "rolling delays."

If you're reading this as you head toward a BART station or sit on a train, your delays should be on the shorter side. But if you were steaming as you waited for half an hour on a sedentary train earlier this morning -- now you know why.

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