Woman’s shoe stuck in escalator triggers BART delays

BART commuters were angry as overcrowding caused delays at the Embarcadero BART station, officials said BART commuters were angry as overcrowding caused delays at the Embarcadero BART station, officials said Photo: Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle / Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle Photo: Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle / Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Woman’s shoe stuck in escalator triggers BART delays 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

A woman’s shoe jammed one of the escalators at the BART Embarcadero station in San Francisco Monday morning, prompting a chain reaction of events that led to train delays and station overcrowding, officials said.

The woman’s shoe got stuck just before 9 a.m. causing the escalator to shut down, said Paula Fraser, the assistant chief transportation officer for BART. The woman was not injured, Fraser added.

Commuters attempted to bypass the woman and her shoe by using a second escalator heading toward the exits. The second escalator also shut down due to the high number of people trying to squeeze on, Fraser said.

“People were really angry,” Fraser said, adding that the overcrowding lasted about 45 minutes. “The elevator-escalator crew got here so quickly. I call them my cavalry.”

BART trains were ordered to skip the Embarcadero station in both directions until crowds there thinned out.

“[The overcrowding] was brief,” said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for BART. “We fixed it as quickly as possible.”

Trains resumed regular service by about 10 a.m.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani