Overview
- A trackside fire near Daly City BART Station on Tuesday night was contained by unified fire command with no injuries, and crews found a damaged 34.5‑kV traction cable and a failed substation component that sparked the blaze.
- The fire and related equipment faults produced multi‑day disruptions across the system, including the suspension of Green Line service and residual delays that affected SFO, peninsula and transbay runs.
- BART operations staff said a heat wave and an HVAC outage at the Daly City facility likely created false train‑occupancy alarms that compounded train‑control problems and forced manual traffic management.
- Agency leaders told the BART board that the substation and cable date to the system’s original construction, that the site had been prioritized for replacement, and that full replacements can cost millions to tens of millions of dollars.
- Crews continue repairs and an investigation that officials call non‑suspicious while BART weighs which substations to advance for replacement and how limited capital funds and an upcoming regional funding measure will affect work and rider reliability.