OAKLAND, Calif. — Trains in the San Francisco Bay Area were running again Tuesday after a tentative deal capped six months of contentious labor negotiations and two strikes that disrupted hundreds of thousands of daily commutes.
Limited Bay Area Rapid Transit train service began again around 6 a.m., two hours later than BART had said it would and not in time to prevent many commuters from turning to alternative transportation.
BART is the nation’s fifth-largest rail system, with an average weekday ridership of 400,000.
The settlement was reached just two days after two track workers were killed in a BART train accident in Walnut Creek. Federal investigators said the train was run by a BART employee who was being trained.
The tentative deal requires approval from union members and from BART’s board of directors.
It contains the same economic package as a deal that nearly came together before workers went on strike last week, said a union official.
Specifics of the deal were not released.
