Amid San Francisco Strike, Two Track Employees Killed by Train

A San Francisco Bay Area commuter train running in automatic mode struck and killed two track inspectors this past Saturday. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system was shut down for the past few days prior to the accident due to a BART train operator strike that began last Friday. Several passengers were aboard the four-car train at the time of the accident, but Paul Oversier, BART’s Assistant General Manager would not disclose any information about who had been the train operator, except that the individual was an experienced BART employee.

The tragic accident took place in the East Bay city of Walnut Creek around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon 25 miles northeast of San Francisco. The two victims were a system employee and a contractor who were inspecting a reported dip in the track. Standard maintenance protocol requires that one employee inspects the track in question while the other looks out for oncoming traffic. Officials reported that the two employees had extensive experience; however they neglected to say whether the safety procedure had been adhered to.

“They understand the railroad, they understand how to work around moving trains,” Oversier said in a statement. “They were doing today what they have done 100 if not 1000 other times in their career.”