Blown fuse blamed for brand-new BART car fail

A fuse that blew on a new BART car being tested before dawn on the tracks near Lake Merritt Station in Oakland was responsible for a systemwide delay Friday morning, an agency spokesman said.

The fuse blew and caused a four-car train to break down at about 5 a.m. The breakdown caused a major delay systemwide until 8:10 a.m.

The train was moved to a pocket of tracks near Bay Fair station until about 2:30 p.m. when the fuse was replaced and the train went back on the test track, BART spokesman Taylor Huckaby said:

“That’s what the testing phase is for.”

Why the fuse blew is still being investigated.

BART officials have on order 775 new train cars, which are scheduled to be delivered between now and 2022. The first 10 were delivered last year.

BART officials are aiming to eventually have 1,081 new cars running but there is no money right now for the additional 306.

Also, adding the 306 would require the train control system to be upgraded, according to Huckaby.

Measure RR, which voters passed in November, provides $3.5 billion for the construction and improvement of BART property. Some of that money could be used to upgrade the train control system, Huckaby said.

BART passengers faced another delay this morning at Montgomery station when a train car door would not close. A crew swept the car out of service at 8:13 a.m.