Editing Bay Area Rapid Transit (section)

=== Worker fatalities ===

==== 1979 fatal electrical fire ====
{{Further|Transbay Tube#January 1979 fire}}
In January 1979, an electrical fire occurred on a train as it was passing through the [[Transbay 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geoffrey Hunter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0WPyrvBDAcC&pg=PA97 |title=Oakland Fire Department |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7385-2968-4 |page=95}}</ref>

==== James Strickland ====
On October 14, 2008, track inspector James Strickland was struck and killed by a train as he was walking along a section of track between the Concord and Pleasant Hill BART stations. Strickland's death started an investigation into BART's safety alert procedures.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gordon |first1=Rachel |last2=Bulwa |first2=Demian |last3=Jones |first3=Carolyn |date=October 15, 2008 |title=BART train kills worker on tracks in Concord |work=San Francisco Chronicle |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-train-kills-worker-on-tracks-in-Concord-3189945.php |access-date=December 29, 2010}}</ref> At the time of the accident, BART had [[Single tracking|assigned trains headed in opposite directions to a shared track]] for routine maintenance. BART came under further fire in February 2009 for allegedly delaying payment of death benefits to Strickland's family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eskenazi |first=Joe |date=February 2, 2009 |title=BART Accused of Being Late – in Paying Out to Survivors of Track Inspector Killed by Train |url=http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/02/bart_accused_of_being_late_--.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105174409/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/02/bart_accused_of_being_late_--.php |archive-date=January 5, 2011 |access-date=December 29, 2010 |publisher=San Francisco News – The Snitch. Blogs.sfweekly.com}}</ref>

==== October 2013 incident ====
On the afternoon of October 19, 2013, a BART employee and a contractor, who were inspecting tracks, were struck and killed near Walnut Creek by a train being moved for routine maintenance. A labor strike by BART's two major unions was underway at the time, which caused BART to use an undertrained operator. Instead of the usual 14 weeks of the training, the operator only received four. The BART trainer was not in the cab with the operator at the time of impact but was instead in the passenger compartment. The [[National Transportation Safety Board]] concluded that the accident occurred because BART facilitated access to the railway line.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railroad Accident Brief: Bay Area Rapid Transit Train 963 Struck Roadway Workers |url=https://ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/RAB1503.aspx |access-date=September 26, 2020 |website=ntsb.gov}}</ref> BART was fined $600,000 for the incident.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 13, 2017 |title=Video of 2013 Fatal BART Accident Reveals Safety Lapses: Regulators |work=NBC Bay Area |url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/State-Seeks-Hefty-Fine-For-BART-in-Deaths-of-Two-Workers-419397954.html |access-date=May 22, 2017}}</ref>