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BART Resumes Limited Service After Systemwide Shutdown

A computer networking failure early Friday halted all train operations, stranding thousands of Bay Area commuters and causing major delays as technicians worked to restore service.

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A BART train arrives at the Pleasant Hill BART station in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021.
Josiah Aldrich, a barber who works in the Mission, receives directions from station agent Winston O. during the system-wide BART shutdown at the Glen Park BART Station in San Francisco on Friday.
A train pulls in to unload a few passengers in the suburb of Millbrae, at a station where the region's two major rail systems meet in San Francisco, U.S., March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Stephen Nellis/File Photo

Overview

  • BART shut down all 50 stations at 4:24 a.m. Friday due to a computer networking issue affecting train control systems.
  • Limited service resumed systemwide at 9:17 a.m., but major delays continue, with no timeline for full restoration.
  • AC Transit, Muni, and San Francisco Bay Ferry provided alternative transit options, honoring BART fares and increasing capacity where possible.
  • The outage left tens of thousands of commuters scrambling for alternatives, causing severe congestion on Bay Area bridges.
  • Technicians are investigating the root cause of the failure, which highlights ongoing reliability challenges for BART's aging infrastructure.