BERKELEY — BART maintenance workers found a human foot on the tracks near the downtown Berkeley station early Monday morning, causing police to shut down the station briefly.

Crews discovered the foot around 3 a.m. behind the third rail near the wall inside the tunnel near the station, BART spokesman Jim Allison said. Authorities believe the discovery is related to a Dec. 20 incident at the station in which a woman became trapped under a train, he said.

That woman suffered serious injuries but survived.

Authorities removed the body part around 4 a.m., and BART officials reopened the station at 4:20 a.m. Service was not interrupted, Allisoin said.

A search and clean-up crew went over the tracks after the Dec. 20 incident, Allison.

Trains continued to run on schedule Monday afternoon.

Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH