Major city brought to a halt as train system is hit by network failure

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 15:21 BST, 9 May 2025 | Updated: 17:34 BST, 9 May 2025

San Francisco was brought to a halt early Friday after the BART train system was suspended due to a network failure. 

BART service shut down around 5am PT, stranding thousands of commuters on their way to work. 

‘Due to a computer networking problem BART service is suspended system wide until further notice,’ the train service shared on X.

BART was operating again at 9:24am PT.

The rail system’s spokesperson Alicia Trost told NBC Bay Area that the control center was unable to power up the system after its daily overnight shutdown. 

An image of the Embarcadero BART station showed the entranceway had been taped off and a sign placed in front that reads: ‘No train service.’ 

Gates leading into many of the 50 stations had also been shut.

The system spans 131.4 miles of track throughout California, connecting San Francisco and the East Bay to other parts of the Bay Area. 

BART serves more than 165,000 daily riders and more than 50 million annually. 

A major California city has been forced into a standstill after the BART train system was suspended Friday due to a network failure

BART carried its first passengers in 1972, the same year as NASA’s final Apollo mission to the moon.

The trains still run on Windows 98, which mechanics access through outdated laptops.

Trost told NBC that network outages do occur as the system is over 50 years old. 

‘The good news is we’re in the process of replacing it, and we have the funding to do so because of Measure RR, and the federal government has made investments into our infrastructure,’ she continued.

‘But it’s awful news that the Bay Area can’t rely on BART as of this moment. We don’t have an ETA as to when the trains will go because part of that is identifying the location of the problem.’  

Justin Levias, from Richmond, told KTVU FOX that he works overnight and relies on BART to get home, but was forced to pay $50 to take an uber.

Levias is just one of thousands of commuters who were frustrated about the system outage.

Many commuters were unaware of the issue when they arrived at a BART station, only to be told that they needed to find another mode of transportation.

BART service was halted around 5am PT, stranding thousands of commuters on their way to work

Olivia Liu told NBC that there is no alternative for her to get to work and an Uber would be too expensive.

Myra Villas told the San Francisco Chronicle that she was on her way to her office in the Tenderloin, where she works as a social worker.

Villas does not have the option to work from home, saying she had to alert her boss.

‘It’s annoying, but I’ll figure it out,’ she said. ‘I have a car.’ 

At the Pleasant Hill Station, signs on the platform that provide train times went completely dark.

‘What’s the issue is our train control computer cannot turn on properly, so that the staff in the control center can see everything, and that’s obviously not safe,’ Trost said. 

‘So we’re not going to run service until all those things happen.’ 

The San Francisco Bay Ferry said it was operating larger ferries to accommodate stranded commuters.

‘Take the ferry from Vallejo, Oakland, Richmond or Alameda or take transbay buses,’ it shared on X.

The last system wide shutdown across all 50 stations occurred in 2019, when a similar computer issue disrupted service for several hours. 

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Major city brought to a halt as train system is hit by network failure

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