Transbay Tube - Incidents

Incidents

In January 1979, an electrical fire occurred on a train as it was passing through the tube. One firefighter (Lt. William Elliott, 50, of the Oakland Fire Department) was killed in the effort to extinguish the blaze. Since then, safety regulations have been updated.

As a precaution, the tube is shut down along with the rest of the BART lines following significant earthquakes. The largest to date was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, but the tube was found to be safe and reopened just six hours later. Many area highways were damaged, and with the Bay Bridge closed for days due to a partial collapse, the Transbay Tube was the only directly passable way between San Francisco and Oakland.