Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) reopened the Transbay Tube this morning, allowing commuters to once again take the train between Oakland and San Francisco, California after a three-day maintenance shutdown.
Teams from BART’s Track, Power, Structures, Train Control, Train Control Engineering and Traction Power Engineering divisions spent the long weekend intensively working on the tube.
During the closure on Labor Day weekend, the teams replaced 12,000 feet of rail within the Transbay Tube. The rails cover the aerial section between the downtown Oakland tunnel and West Oakland Station. This project is the largest single track replacement job that BART has accomplished.
In addition to replacing the rail, BART workers ground down all rail in the tube on both tracks for a quieter ride;
cleaned 300 third-rail insulators to prevent arcing, which is a potential fire hazard; installed 25 ties and replaced track bed ballast at the west transition structure of the Transbay Tube for a smoother ride into Oakland; replaced 292 ties at the interlocking between West Oakland Station and the tube; and continued overhauling the West Oakland Station including painting, tile repair, installation of pigeon abatement and tree trimming.
For more information, visit www.bart.gov.
