BART service in San Francisco disrupted after electrical fire at Civic Center

By Tim Fang

A fire on the BART tracks at the Civic Center station in San Francisco Tuesday morning has led to service disruptions, officials said.

According to the San Francisco Fire Department, an electrical fire happened on the third rail around 11:30 a.m.

“Crews quickly and safely extinguished the fire with a dry chemical extinguisher,” firefighters said in a statement.

No injuries were reported.

BART said in a separate statement that there was an initial report of a blown insulator on the trackway. 

“A blown insulator makes a loud noise and generates smoke and arcing. We evacuated the station and San Francisco Fire responded to put out the flames,” the agency said.

BART officials added that thre is some damage to the third rail that will need to be repaired and service is running on the undamaged track. Civic Center station reopened shortly after 12:25 p.m. 

The agency said trains are single tracking between 24th Street Mission and Montgomery Street stations. Green Line and Red Line service is not running and riders should expect major delays throughout the system.

Tuesday’s issue follows two other major service disruptions to hit the BART system in less that a week. 

Service between the South Hayward and Berryessa / North San Jose was halted for several hours on Thursday following a vandalism incident near the Hayward maintenance yard. On Monday, an equipment issue near the West Oakland station led to no Red Line and no Green Line service during the morning commute.