BART’s morning commute snarled after man killed on tracks

(Left to right) Chelsea Martin of San Mateo, gives Carlos Sota of Venezuela some help on how to get to alternative public transportation at the closed Powell Street BART station on Wednesday, January 14, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The Powell Street BART station was temporarily closed after a man jumped in front of train on Wednesday morning. less (Left to right) Chelsea Martin of San Mateo, gives Carlos Sota of Venezuela some help on how to get to alternative public transportation at the closed Powell Street BART station on Wednesday, January 14, 2014 ... more Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close BART’s morning commute snarled after man killed on tracks 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

BART service through downtown San Francisco was brought to a near-halt for much of the Wednesday morning commute after witnesses said a man jumped in front of a train at the Powell Street Station and was killed, officials said.

The man, witnesses said, jumped onto the tracks in the eastbound direction at 7:55 a.m., prompting BART to close the station and run a limited number of trains through Powell on the westbound side without stopping. That caused a ripple effect through the system, and frustration from many riders.

Some trains headed from Bay Point to San Francisco were able to continue through the Transbay Tube, said agency spokeswoman Alicia Trost. Those trains, she noted, have the most cars and carry the most people.

But all other trains traveling into San Francisco were diverted, with passengers instructed to transfer. Meanwhile, for every four trains running through the Powell Street Station toward the Civic Center Station, one train traveling in the opposite direction toward the East Bay was allowed to go through, Trost said.

She said the plan sought to get the bulk of the people to their destinations as quickly as possible.

“When you have a major station located in downtown San Francisco closed, there’s backup, which could be a safety risk. We want the trains to keep moving,” she said.

At the same time that BART was dealing with the apparent suicide, a man was reported to have a gun in the Powell Street Station and, at other stations, a fight was reported and a person needed help for paralysis and chest pain, Trost said. Authorities responded to all of the emergencies, she said.

The Powell Street Station reopened shortly before 10 a.m., BART said, after authorities worked with the city medical examiner. Residual delays continued through the morning but service was back to normal by 11 a.m., Trost said.

The man who jumped in front of the train, whose name was not released, did so just as it was pulling into the station, officials said. Jesslyn Woo, 33, was riding in the last car of the train involved.

“The train just came to a stop,” she said, and the operator told riders in the back to exit through the front car.

Thousands of riders in both directions were affected. John Schupay, 70, said he had been trying to get home to Daly City.

“I came into town to get chicken soup because I’m sick,” he said. “Now it’s going to take me at least two hours to get home.”

Commuters coming into the city from the East Bay faced delays of 30 minutes or much more.

“It was frustrating, hot and overcrowded,” said Boris Jeric, who got off BART at the Montgomery Street Station after more than an hour delay from Orinda. “I’ve never seen so many people.”

Hamed Aleaziz and Evan Sernoffsky are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @haleaziz, @evansernoffsky