BART resuming normal service around Bay Fair station after more than 6 hours of delays

Birds fly above a train as it waits on the platform at the Bay Fair BART station in San Leandro, CA, on Thursday, December 18, 2014. Birds fly above a train as it waits on the platform at the Bay Fair BART station in San Leandro, CA, on Thursday, December 18, 2014. Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Short / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close BART resuming normal service around Bay Fair station after more than 6 hours of delays 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Note: At 4:20 p.m., BART announced repair work had been completed at Bay Fair station and normal service was being restored.

Major delays developed on BART Friday morning due to an equipment problem on the track near the Bay Fair station in San Leandro and persisted for hours as crews worked to solve the problem.

"We do have crews on scene near the Bay Fair station dealing with a train control equipment problem on the trackway," BART spokesman Chris Filippi said shortly after 11:10 a.m. "This has led to a major delay on the BART system."

The equipment problem began at 9:20 a.m., according to Filippi, and crews went to work to make repairs. By 1:45 p.m., the delays had shortened in length from "major" delays to 15 to 20-minute delays.

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Trains were continuing to run despite that repair work on the trackway, but not at their usual speed.

"We do have crews on the scene and they are manually cranking the tracks to keep trains moving," Filippi said at 12:45 p.m.

"We are providing service, it's just very slow compared to the normal service right now in the area of the Bay Fair and the Hayward stations," he said.

AC Transit is providing mutual aid via line 10 between San Leandro, Bay Fair, and Hayward stations; BART customers can transfer to this line for alternate service. It remains unclear when normal BART service will be restored.

"There's no estimate at this point in terms of how long those repairs will take place," said Filippi.

As of 3:45 p.m., a BART advisory was still in place warning of 20 minute delays.