iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
A Bay Area Rapid Transit train partially derailed and caught fire in the East Bay on Monday, January 1, 2024, morning. The accident caused delays on the Antioch line. The rail service posted on social media platform X that the partial derailment happened after 9 a.m. between the Orinda and Lafayette stations.
Though no injuries have been reported, passengers aboard the train were shaken up and frightened by the accident. Firefighters were deployed at the Orinda station while both the Orinda and Lafayette stations were closed.
Many of the people traveling on the train had been to San Francisco to ring in the New Year and were heading back to the East Bay. The passengers were later evacuated back to the Orinda station, but they got stranded there as there was no bus bridge available, BART authorities said. The transit system contacted the partner bus agencies to get a bus bridge in place for the Yellow line between Walnut Creek and Rockridge stations.
Two of the train cars also caught on fire, which was extinguished by the Orinda Fire Department, reported ABC7 News. “There is a major delay on the line in both the Antioch and SFO directions. BART says riders should seek an alternate means of transportation.”
The passengers said that they felt the train stop suddenly, and BART later explained that the incident was caused by a mechanical fault. The passengers said the train moved forward, then backward, then people smelled smoke and saw flames. People tried to get into other cars, but the doors were disabled and they felt the BART car tip. The panic-stricken passengers were finally able to open the doors and jump off, and some of them said that they felt like their lives were at risk, ABC7 News said in its report.
