BART train derails near Concord Station Out-of-service train leaves tracks near station, causing big delays

An out-of-service BART train derailed Friday night near the Concord Station, halting all traffic east of the station for several hours and causing long delays for hundreds of passengers stranded during the evening commute.

Crews were working late Friday to remove the train - which was blocking tracks in both directions - but repairs are expected to continue through Saturday night, meaning there will be no service past the Pleasant Hill Station.

A shuttle train will run Saturday between the Pittsburg/Bay Point and North Concord/Martinez stations, and buses will operate between the North Concord, Concord and Pleasant Hill stations, BART said.

The train derailed about 6:30 p.m., just south of the station as it traveled west toward a nearby service yard. It was crossing over a switching mechanism when it came off the tracks, BART said.

The only person on board was the train operator, who was not injured. It was not immediately known why the train was out of service.

The derailment left the front end of the 10-car train hanging off an elevated stretch of track near Mount Diablo Street. The second, third and fourth cars also came off the tracks.

BART officials did not know what caused the derailment. An investigation was under way.

BART crews inspect a train derailment in Concord. Repairs are expected to continue through Saturday night. BART crews inspect a train derailment in Concord. Repairs are expected to continue through Saturday night. Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mathew Sumner, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close BART train derails near Concord Station 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

'Going really fast'

Concord resident Adam Goermar, 42, had just gotten off BART at the Concord Station and was in a parking lot below the tracks when he heard a train coming through that "sounded like it was going really fast."

"I looked up to check it out, and just as it crossed the platform where people were standing, it bounced two or three times," Goermar said.

"You could see the second car visibly get air," he said. "I saw sparks coming out from underneath it. The lead car bounced one time really hard and just made a V, and everything piled up into it, like you see in the movies."

The derailment occurred close to where a BART train came off the tracks in March 2011. In that incident, the slow-moving train was about 700 feet outside the Concord Station and switching tracks when the eighth and ninth cars of a 10-car train derailed, injuring three people.

BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said investigators were looking into whether there was a connection between the two incidents, but crews could not yet confirm whether the derailments happened in the same spot.

Similar location

Roger Bratton, 56, lives near the Concord Station and came out to see the damage Friday night. He was also in the neighborhood during the 2011 derailment.

"It was pretty much the same spot," Bratton said. "I don't know if it's a coincidence or just a bad place."

Friday night's derailment caused long systemwide delays during the evening commute, and passengers took to Twitter and other social media outlets to vent their frustrations.

BART set up a bus bridge at the Pleasant Hill Station to the three stations east on the line - Concord, North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point - but it was no substitute for normal service.

Kelli Inman, 34, was returning home to Brentwood from a day in San Francisco with her husband, two other adults and two young children when they got stuck. It took them more than three hours to get from San Francisco to the Concord Station by train and bus, and they still had to catch one more bus to the Pittsburg/Bay Point Station where their car was parked.

"We're pretty frustrated," Inman said. "But we're just trying to take it as well as possible. You'd think they'd have some better plans in place. You'd think they'd have this down by now."

Tarlan Bananzadeh, 36, arrived at the Pleasant Hill Station by train and from there would take a bus to Concord, where her car was parked, before driving home to Fairfield.

"What a way to end a Friday night," she said.

Bananzadeh added that the derailment didn't make her worry about whether BART was safe.

"Nothing's perfect. These things are bound to happen," she said. "You're just lucky if it doesn't happen to you."