BART officials on March 18 announced a major track repair project that will halt weekend train service between Coliseum and Fruitvale stations beginning next month. The work begins April 5 and will continue for several non-consecutive weekends throughout the summer. A free bus bridge provided by AC Transit will operate between the two stations when the tracks are closed for customers who have no other mode of transportation available. The buses accommodate people with disabilities and feature four doors for quicker boarding and exiting.
BART to OAK Airport service will continue even during the track shutdown between Coliseum and Fruitvale stations.
The work to repair a seven-mile stretch of elevated tracks will result in a faster, quieter more reliable ride for BART customers. This effort to repair and replace vital track components is part of our “Building a Better BART” project.
“We understand this is going to inconvenience some people, but the work is necessary to maintain safety and reliability,” said BART Assistant General Manager for Operations Paul Oversier. “We simply can’t postpone this work any longer – if we don’t make critical repairs now the tracks will become unusable.”
BART workers will replace 1,000 degraded wooden ties and 3,000 feet of worn rail within the seven-mile affected zone. Crews will also repair a track switch that now forces trains to operate at slower-than-normal speeds. During the repairs, BART will send 35 to 40 workers at a time onto the tracks, armed with two truckloads of tools and with nine support vehicles standing by for assistance. The amount of work required and the location and length of track is so extensive, the work can’t be completed while trains are running or during the short window of time overnight when BART is not in operation.
The cost of the repairs will be between $2M and $2.5M, and will come from BART’s general operating budget.
The bus bridge will likely cause 30-60 minutes delays for some riders. BART will monitor the impacts to riders each day and will make changes if necessary to improve service moving forward. April dates are set for Sunday, April 5th and Saturday, April 18 starting at 7pm-Sunday, April 19th. Riders are encouraged to sign up for service alerts and to visit bart.gov before travelling for updates.
“The track components being replaced are 35-40 years old,” said Oversier. “There are similar replacement needs throughout the system that will require major work during operating hours in the future. This level of reinvestment is what’s required for BART to remain the safest, most reliable public transit service option for the Bay Area that keeps cars off the road.”
