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A Bigge crane brought in for the transformer project is pictured besides the BART tracks.

Read more stories about BART infrastructure and big building projects at bart.gov/railtales. 

A newly energized transformer near the core of the BART system is expected to improve the customer experience by increasing power redundancy and resiliency. This translates to increased reliability in the key passage that connects the East Bay to San Francisco. 

The transformer was installed on a whirlwind six-month schedule to ensure the area, so crucial to BART’s busy Oakland Wye in the center of the system, had sufficient backup power in case one of the other nearby substations must be taken down for maintenance. The Oakland Wye refers to a triangular junction where BART trains can switch between multiple lines.  

“All five lines run through the Oakland Wye; a train is going through it every two to three minutes during peak commute, so it's important to have massive redundancy here to mitigate delays and keep trains running,” said Gordon Wong, Principal Electrical Engineer who wore many hats for this project. 

A Bigge crane removes the original transformer on May 17, 2025.

The nearby substations operate at the same time, their transformers and rectifiers fulfilling their job of converting 34.5kv voltage fed via sub-transmission cables from the power grid into the 1,000 DC voltage train motors require to run. 

The old transformer, located between Fruitvale and Lake Merritt stations, needed to be replaced after reaching the end of its life after 20 years of service. BART Traction Power engineers made the decision to replace it after regular maintenance testing alerted staff that the equipment was at risk of failing.  

“Myat deemed this year the ‘Year of the Substation,’” said Asst. Chief Infrastructure Delivery Officer Manal Bishr of her colleague Myat San, BART Chief Infrastructure Delivery Office. “We gave him a little bit of a hard time about that, but it’s really motivated the team. This is huge for providing power to the core of our system!" 

Left to right: BART Traction Power Electricians Javier Morales and Robert Flores install high-voltage wiring on May 28, 2025.

By removing a transformer near Dublin/Pleasanton and reinstalling it at this Oakland location, BART saved a significant amount of money and honored the agency’s sustainability values. Only one line runs from Dublin/Pleasanton to Bay Fair, and trains have lower frequencies. This means the area requires less power to operate. 

“We saved at least $500,000 and three years of work by using a pre-existing transformer,” Wong said of the project, which was funded by voter-approved Measure RR. “This project cost half the price of furnishing a new transformer."

Moving a transformer is no simple task, and multiple departments supported the work, including Traction Power Engineering and Maintenance, Structural Engineering and Maintenance, Integration Engineering, Operations Liaisons, and System Access. In addition to Bishr, San, and Wong, the project was led by BART’s Zeeshan Ali, Adam Flynn, Michael Gibson, Andrew Holcomb, Ravi Raj, Andrew Shuck, Thaw Tin, Juan Ulloa, and Damon Williams.  

BART Traction Power Electrician Javier Morales works on high-voltage wiring for the transformer installation on May 28, 2025. 

Transformers are giant pieces of equipment, weighing about 30,000 pounds – about half the weight of one BART car. What goes on inside a transformer? Simply, power comes in from one end, and windings step down the voltage to convert it to the correct voltages. Three megawatts is the full-rated capacity of the transformer in question.  

The most cinematic moment of the process was using a crane to lift the transformer lay it on its concrete foundation. Bringing in a giant crane required months of legwork. A significant amount of vegetation needed clearing, then BART needed to secure permits with the Union Pacific Railroad, with which BART has an easement. 

Left to right: BART Senior Electrical Engineer Henry Nguyen and Junior Engineer Artem Morozov  work on the installation of the transformer on May 28, 2025.

It was a celebratory day when the crane made its triumphant appearance at the work site. After a semi-truck dropped off the crane and its counterweights, the rigging crew had to assemble it – it takes three hours! -- and used a giant forklift to roll it into place. Then the team had to wait for “the blanket,” A.K.A. the small window at night when trains aren’t running for passenger service. When at last the time came for the crane to lift and place the transformer, the team exhaled. In all, the lift took about thirty minutes. Planning out the moment, however, required months of labor.  

After connecting the primary 34.5kV cables, the Traction Power team energized the transformer and listened to the sweet sound of its internal winding heating up as energy surged through and trains zoomed past.  

Contractors on the transformer project included C3M, Clark, Cupertino, Azul, Biggie Crane, Rigging Rail Pros Flagging, CEL Soil Sampling, and Novoa testing. 

(November 3, 3:20pm update)

BART Police have arrested the suspect wanted in connection with a stabbing that occurred Saturday morning aboard an Antioch-bound train as it approached 24th Street/Mission Station. 34-year-old Jovany Portades was spotted by an alert Station Agent at Fruitvale Station Sunday at around 2pm. The Station Agent contacted BART Police who arrested the suspect without incident.

(November 3, 11am update)

BART Police investigators have identified the suspect wanted in connection with a stabbing that occured aboard an Antioch-bound train Saturday morning as it approached 24th Street/Mission Station. The suspect is 34-year-old Jovany Portades. One of BART's more than 4,000 surveillance cameras caught an initial iamge of suspect, which helped investigators to identify Portades. 

Anyone with information can call the BART Police Investigations anonymous tip line at (510) 464-7011. For urgent matters, call (510) 464-7000 or 9-1-1. Portades should be considered dangerous and members of the public should not approach him.

BART Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect in an assault on a train this morning.

The suspect is described as a possible Asian male, standing 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, with black braided hair wrapped in a knot on top of his head, a mustache, wearing a plain black jacket with orange liner, a black shirt with a large white logo, gray and black cargo style pants, brown and black boots, and carrying a black duffle bag. Investigators have released photos captured by one of BART’s more than 4,000 surveillance cameras.

The man is suspected of stabbing a 54-year-old woman in an unprovoked attack at about 8:10 a.m. aboard an Antioch-bound train as it approached 24th St./Mission Station.

The victim offboarded the train at 24th St./Mission Station and was assisted by a Station Agent until BART Police Officers arrived on the scene. The victim was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.

BART closed the 24th St/Mission Station from about 8:40 to 9:25 am to collect evidence.

Anyone with information can call the BART Police Investigations anonymous tip line at (510) 464-7011. For urgent matters, call (510) 464-7000 or 9-1-1. 

BART’s reimagined schedule, which was rolled out on Monday, will be a boon for riders who want to travel around the Bay this weekend. The new service plan is designed to work for everyone, every day and means no BART rider will have to wait more than 20 minutes for a scheduled train no matter what hour of the day or what day of the week. 30-minute wait times between scheduled trains are now a thing of the past for BART on nights and weekends.

This Saturday and Sunday riders will notice the difference as they see more trains at their stations. Weekend service now has 20-minute service on all 5 lines until 9pm. And after 9pm 20-minute service on 3 lines will arrive at the same time every day of the week.

Examples of our boosted weekend service include:

*Richmond-MacArthur riders will now see 6 trains per hour instead of 4. 
*West Oakland-Daly City riders will get 12 trains per hour instead of 10 on Saturdays and 8 on Sundays. 
*Bay Fair-Berryessa riders will see their trains per hour increase from 4 to 6.
*Trains per hour are also increasing for our evening 3-line service, which begins every night at 9pm.

This Saturday is All Aboard Transit Day in celebration of Transit Month when everyone in the Bay Area is encouraged to try transit. Take as many transit trips as your heart desires this Saturday to help us beat the Saturday September 2022 ridership record. We will add up the total ridership for the day and report out to the public if we exceed the Saturday, September 2022 ridership, which was the highest ridership for a Saturday in September during Transit Month 2022.

On Saturday, BART will host "Meet the BART Anime Mascots" event at Powell Street Station from 2-6 pm. Take photos with the mascots, make buttons with staff, grab a prize from the BART capsule ball machine, and more! Come in cosplay and get a rare BART anime charm. The Link21 outreach team will also be there to talk about our project to build a second train crossing connecting Oakland and San Francisco. 

BART will also have special late-night service for the Ed Sheeran concert at Levi’s Stadium this Saturday. 

The new schedule, which began Monday, is already serving record numbers of riders. On Wednesday, BART carried 192,961 passengers – the most since the pandemic shelter-in-place orders were enacted in March 2020. Just a day before, Tuesday, September 12th, BART served 192,081 riders. The new schedule is responsive to post-pandemic commute patterns and ridership growth opportunities, with a new emphasis on weeknight and weekend service. 

Beginning November 30, 2023, paper tickets will no longer be accepted at BART as fare payment and for use at the fare gates. This change is occurring as BART begins to roll out new state of the art fare gates which will not accept paper tickets and as Clipper prepares for the launch of the next generation of Clipper. 

Paper tickets balances cannot be transferred onto a Clipper card. BART offers paper ticket refunds for tickets with a remaining value greater than $1.00. It can be multiple tickets that add up to $1 or more. Click here for directions to request a refund. 

There is no deadline for requesting a refund. Refund requests do not need to be submitted by November 30th. 

Pay By Phone

Clipper is now available through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Riders can get a new Clipper card on their phones for free (normally $3). Funds added using Apple Pay and Google Pay are immediately available for use.

Set up is easy and can be done on the spot or in advance while you are at home. Every rider needs their own digital card. For families travelling together, multiple cards can be added to an Apple phone, but users must turn off Express Transit mode to toggle between each card when tagging at the fare gate.   

Next Generation Clipper

BART has moved to a Clipper-only fare payment system because the region has prioritized the use of Clipper as the Bay Area’s all-in-one transit card administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. In calendar year 2024, the next generation of Clipper will be rolled out including open payment which provides the option to tag a credit/debit card at a BART fare gate, including Apple Pay or Google Pay, without setting up a card on your phone in advance. The next generation of Clipper also opens the door for new discount programs, promotions, and potentially fare capping for BART riders. 

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September 11, 2023 Update:

Beginning Saturday, September 30, 2023, BART will no longer sell magstripe paper tickets at SFO. Only Clipper cards will be available at SFO vending machines and riders will continue to be encouraged to add a Clipper card to their phone for a card-free option. 

BART began offering paper tickets at SFO in October 2022 in response to global supply chain issues impacting the region’s plastic card inventory. The region now has an adequate supply of cards and BART will eliminate the sale of all paper tickets. This includes the sale of red paper tickets at the Customer Service window at Lake Merritt Station for RTC applicants waiting for their Clipper card to arrive and paper tickets for group sales.  

Riders are still able to use the paper tickets they already have on hand, including weekend promotion tickets, to enter and exit through most fare gates until November 30, 2023. 

(Tuesday, 11/19 11:45am update)

Statement from BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin on the incident at Union City Station:

"On Monday, November 18, at 8:57pm BART PD officers responded to a report of reckless driving in the parking lot of Union City Station. As part of the overall investigation, the two responding officers conducted a traffic stop. During the traffic stop, the driver is alleged to have assaulted a police officer which led to one of the officers discharging their firearm. 

The suspect, 32-year-old Jasmine Gao of Union City, was shot in the upper body. Gao was provided with immediate first aid and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Once medically cleared, she will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon on police, reckless evading, failure to follow a court order, and resisting arrest with an enhancement of committing a felony while out on her own recognizance. She also had two outstanding arrest warrants. The suspect is reported to be in serious, but stable condition.

Pursuant to standard department protocol, drug and alcohol testing was conducted for the officer who fired their service weapon. Per policy, both officers had their body-worn cameras activated. 

Union City Station was closed Monday night as part of the investigation and was reopened in time for the start of BART service Tuesday morning. Union City Police also responded to the incident and provided support including securing the scene. Anybody who may have additional information should contact BART PD detectives at 510-464-7040."

(Tuesday, 11/19 9am update)

Here's the entry for this incident in BART PD's daily log:

245 (c) PC / 2800.2 CVC / 166(a)(4) PC / 148(a)(1) PC / Warrant (x2) Arrest (Prohibition Order will be issued) – Union City Station

11/18/2024 2057 hours Officers conducted a traffic stop and contacted the driver Jasmine Gao (05/03/1992, Union City). During the incident, an officer involved shooting occurred. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to hospital for treatment. Once medically cleared, Gao will be booked into the Alameda County jail in Dublin on the above listed charges. 2411-1355 L26 

Additional info:

The listed charges include assault with a deadly weapon on police, reckless evading, failure to follow a court order, and resisting arrest with an enhancement of committing a felony while on your own recognizance. 

BART Police confirms an officer-involved shooting took place approximately 9:30pm on Monday, November 18, 2024 in the parking lot of the Union City BART Station. One suspect was shot by police and transported to the hospital. Their condition at this time is unknown. BART Police closed the station on Monday night for the investigation. More details will be released as information is confirmed.

Per policy, BART’s Office of the Independent Police Auditor has been notified and has responded to the scene for their investigation.

On Monday, August 11, 2025, BART will make minor schedule changes in coordination with the region’s other transit systems as part of a collective effort to sync schedules, reduce impacts, and improve transfers for transit riders in the Bay Area.

Minor Adjustments

Overall, some departure times will shift by a few minutes, and we encourage riders to check the schedule before August 11, 2025, to see if their trip is impacted. 

The BART Trip Planner has been updated with the new schedule so riders can start planning their trips using the date August 11, 2025, and beyond. PDF timetables have also been posted. 

Improved Connections

• The BART to Antioch connection at the transfer platform will speed up. The wait time will be reduced from seven minutes between arriving on the BART to Antioch DMU train to departing on the BART Fleet of the Future train to four minutes.  
• BART trains will have a longer dwell time at Millbrae Station for improved reliability of Caltrain and SamTrans connections.
• BART trains will have a longer dwell time at Dublin/Pleasanton Station for improved LAVTA Wheels connections, and Wheels made changes to speed up the following trips:
  • Riders from East Dublin to Downtown San Francisco will save 17 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #2 and BART.
  • Riders from Pleasanton to Downtown San Francisco will on average save 15 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #8 and BART.
  • Riders from Livermore to Downtown San Francisco will save 17 minutes in the morning peak for riders who take LAVTA’s Wheels #10R and BART.
• BART will have more even train spacing between the Orange & Green lines from Berryessa to Richmond for improved connections with VTA, AC Transit, and Union City Transit bus service. Currently trains run every 7 and 13 minutes toward Berryessa, and it will now be 9 and 11 minutes. Trains heading in the Richmond direction will go from 9 and 11 to 10 and 10. 

Transit Coordination – The Big Sync

Bay Area transit agencies have been syncing schedules in a whole new way to make riding transit even faster and improve transfer reliability and timing. Transit agencies from across the region are rolling out new schedules in mid-August in coordination with each other and have now aligned the timing of schedule changes twice each year, once in summer (mid-August) and once in winter (mid-January).

This is the third iteration of a coordinated Big Sync in the Bay Area. Agencies meet several months in advance of each schedule change to share planned changes and to look for opportunities to improve transfers.

Advancing schedule change alignment is a key priority for Bay Area transit general managers who meet on a weekly basis to make transit more rider-focused and efficient. 

Weekdays

August 11, 2025, Weekday Service for Antioch to SFO (Yellow) Line.pdf 

August 11, 2025, Weekday Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Daly City (Green) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekday Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Richmond (Orange) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekday Service for Dublin_Pleasanton to Daly City (Blue) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekday Service for Richmond to Millbrae + SFO (Red) Line.pdf

Weekends

August 11, 2025, Weekend Service for Antioch to SFO (Yellow) Line.pdf 

August 11, 2025, Weekend Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Daly City (Green) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekend Service for Berryessa_N San Jose to Richmond (Orange) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekend Service for Dublin_Pleasanton to Daly City (Blue) Line.pdf

August 11, 2025, Weekend Service for Richmond to Millbrae + SFO (Red) Line.pdf

*This article was posted on July 31, 2025