Suicide Halts BART Trains

By Erin Sherbert Mon., Jun. 27 2011 at 3:40 PM

Categories: Public Transit

Suicide at BART

The evening commute will be sad and slow. A woman apparently committed suicide this afternoon at the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, bringing trains to a screeching halt.

Jim Allison, spokesman for BART, told SF Weekly that the northbound train was coming into the station at about 12:45 p.m. when a woman walked onto the trackway -- and stayed there.

"She got up but didn't make any attempt to get out of the way as the train came into the station," he says.

The train struck her and the power shut down. The station was immediately closed while BART officials took the train apart to retrieve her body. The coroner was called to the scene and declared it to be a suicide, Allison says.

Ashby Station was reopened at 3 p.m. to southbound trains; a few minutes later, northbound trains resumed service through the station. Three of the transit's lines experienced delays of up to 20 minutes. AC Transit offered parallel transit service for BART passengers who were affected by the station closure.

While all trains are now running normally, Allison says riders should expect some evening delays for unrelated transit problems.

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