Thousands of Bay Area Rapid Transit riders were still facing system delays Friday night hours after smoke filled trains in the Transbay Tube, forcing a full stop of service between San Francisco and Oakland.
The issue began around 5:30 p.m. when BART received reports of smoke in the underwater tunnel, according to agency spokesperson Cheryl Stalter. Officials then powered down the track and sent an inspection team in.
Just after 6 p.m. Friday, San Francisco firefighters responded to the Embarcadero BART station "to investigate a fire on the tracks in the Transbay Tube," department officials said on X.
BART officials said the shutdown was "due to an equipment problem." The San Francisco Fire Department offered more clarity, saying a BART train's brakes "left smoke that lingered" in the tunnel.
A video posted on Reddit shows some riders coughing and covering their faces to protect against a thick haze of smoke in their car.
The poster shared their account:
"We had just left Embarcadero, and about three minutes into the Transbay Tube, everyone from the car behind us suddenly rushed into ours. At first I didn’t know what was happening, but then thick smoke started pouring in and people began to panic."
Multiple fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were staged on Market Street. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m., BART officials said trains were starting to run again in both directions.
“There is no longer any smoke in the area and we are [now] resuming normal service," Stalter said.