Authorities say a brazen fiber-optic cable theft at BART’s Hayward maintenance complex last November did more than ruin some commutes. It knocked out train service between Hayward and Berryessa/North San Jose for much of the day, leaving the transit agency facing a repair bill of more than $1 million, according to The Mercury News. Investigators have since reclassified the incident and chased leads, but as of mid-January, no one had been charged.
What happened on Nov. 21
BART crews discovered on Nov. 21 that a cut fiber line near the Hayward Yard was preventing trains from operating safely, so the agency suspended service for hours between South Hayward and Berryessa/North San Jose while crews worked on repairs, according to BART. Service was restored later that afternoon, and AC Transit rolled out extra buses to help stranded riders during the outage. BART also asked anyone with information about the damage to contact police.
The agency’s tab and a police lead
New details reported yesterday indicate investigators believe about 800 feet of fiber-optic cable was cut at a Hayward agency facility and that multiple spools were loaded into a pickup truck, with damage and emergency response costs pushing BART’s estimate past $1 million, according to The Mercury News. The outlet also reports that six days after the theft, a person in a similar truck took off when approached by a BART officer. Investigators are treating the case as grand theft, but as of mid-January, no arrests had been announced.
Why riders felt the hit
The Nov. 21 shutdown was one of several high-profile service disruptions that have snarled commutes across the BART system in recent months, compounding irritation for regular riders and prompting extra staffing and bus bridges during repairs, as reported by ABC7 and other local outlets. BART spokespeople have acknowledged that the string of breakdowns is “extremely frustrating” for customers while the agency tries to fix trackside equipment and shore up reliability.
Legal and investigative status
Investigators have formally reclassified the Hayward incident as grand theft, and BART has urged anyone with tips to contact local police, according to agency updates from BART. Authorities say the probe remains active; prosecutors had not filed charges in mid-January while detectives followed leads tied to similar vehicles and recovered spools of wiring early in the investigation.
Hoodline previously covered the initial Nov. 21 outage in our dispatch, and we will continue to track public updates from BART and law enforcement as the investigation unfolds.
