A BART operations official told the agency’s governing board Thursday that aging power equipment was to blame for Tuesday’s Daly City substation fire, which broke out just as BART engineers were scrambling to deal with a rash of apparent heat-related train-control system meltdowns in the same ar ea. At a briefing of the agency’s governing board, BART Operations Manager Sylvia Lamb said hours before the fire Tuesday night, excessive heat apparently caused an air conditioning system failure at the Daly City Station. The subsequent heat buildup in the station, she said, likely explains a rash of “false occupancy” alarms. The alarms trigger when the control system senses trains bunching up close enough to pose a collision hazard. BART responded by manually switching trains and slowing speeds through the area, causing delays all day. Lamb told the board a portable HVAC system is now cooling the station while repairs are under way. Then, apparently unrelated to the false alarms, circuit breakers tripped at the station that evening. BART staff soon discovered the substation fire, which was also spotted by a driver on nearby Interstate 280. The fire created a massive disruption in Transbay service that lasted several hours. BART 6 hours ago BART service resumes between San Bruno, Colma; some disruptions remain BART Sep 9 BART reports systemwide delay due to equipment problems BART Sep 8 BART says gate upgrades helping reduce crime, fare evasion a year later Crews surveying the system later found a damaged 34.5-kv cable feeding power to the station, she said. The substation is designed to cut the 34.5 kv power to 1,000 volts of direct current. Lamb noted the cable, as well as the substation itself, are original equipment on the system built back in the 1970s. Lamb said the fire was likely caused by insulation failure on a single component of the substation. “This is a very clear failure due to aging electrical equipment, it is very obvious,” she said, adding that the Daly City fire was very similar to a fault-triggered fire at a traction power substation in downtown Oakland in 2024. That station was also slated to be repaired under a bond funded project. Lamb noted that about 50 of BART’s 74 traction-power substations have never been replaced and that the station in Daly City was third on of a list of top five stations for replacement. Overhauling a substation, she said, can cost about $4 million, while replacing one can cost up to $60 million. BART has money to replace one additional substation, she said, so moving up the Daly City work will delay another high priority project. Lamb noted that BART is in the process of replacing HVAC systems but did not tell the board how soon that work will be done. ...read more read less