Disabled BART train near 24th Street Mission snarls San Francisco commute

A disabled BART train near 24th Street Mission jammed San Francisco’s morning commute Wednesday, cutting Red Line service and leaving Green Line riders with limited service for about an hour before the system recovered.

BART said the problem surfaced around 5:50 a.m. and involved a train stopped on the track between the 16th Street and 24th Street Mission stations. For a time, there was no Red Line service between Richmond and Millbrae and only limited Green Line service between Berryessa/North San Jose and MacArthur. By around 6:30 a.m., a tow train was moving into position to remove the disabled train, and full service was restored by about 6:50 a.m.

The shutdown hit a critical point in the city’s transit network. 24th Street Mission station sits at 2800 Mission Street in the Mission District, a dense neighborhood BART describes as a busy mixed-use area with restaurants, markets, performance spaces, shops and nightspots. The station is served by four line pairings, including Dublin/Pleasanton to Daly City, Antioch to SFIA/Millbrae, Berryessa/North San Jose to Daly City, and Richmond to Millbrae/SFIA. A failure there can ripple quickly across the city and the region.

The Wednesday disruption also came after another equipment issue the night before. BART said the Tuesday evening problem between 19th Street and MacArthur created major systemwide delays, adding to the sense that a single mechanical breakdown can cascade across the network. Together, the back-to-back incidents showed how little margin riders have when trains fail on a core corridor connecting San Francisco and Oakland.

That matters because BART remains heavily used even as reliability problems mount. The agency carried 55,610,841 passenger trips in calendar year 2025, with average weekday ridership of 180,649. Riders using 24th Street Mission are not just commuters heading downtown. The station serves students, workers and residents who depend on BART for a fast link through the city and across the Bay.

The reliability strain comes with a financial warning attached. BART says it is running service on emergency funds projected to run out in 2026, and it has warned that its FY27 deficit will reach $376 million. In February, the agency said its alternative service planning could include service cuts, station closures, fare increases and layoffs if new funding does not materialize. For riders paying fares and supporting the system with public money, Wednesday’s breakdown was another reminder that BART is being judged not just on expansion plans, but on whether it can deliver predictable service on an ordinary weekday morning.