UPDATE: BART Shutdown Due to Computer Problems

The BART system shut down Monday evening and then resumed only very limited service because of computer problems in the Operations Control Center, according to BART.

Customers were advised to arrange alternate transportation, as most of the system remained stalled at 9:20 p.m.

The problem began about 7:30 p.m., and engineers don't know when it can be fixed, BART said. Trains that were in service were able to move to nearby stations to let riders off, according to BART.

The computer glitch started at 7:32 p.m., agency spokesman Linton Johnson said, and involves the computers inside BART's operations control center. The problemwas preventing the control center from monitoring the location of the system's trains.

"It's not a safety issue, per se, because the computers on the trackside are able to move the trains," Johnson said. However, if a train were to have a mechanical issue, the operations center would normally reroute trains but cannot do so at this time without knowing trains' locations.

As a result, as of 8:10 p.m., the agency was attempting to get each train to the nearest station so that passengers would be allowed to exit while crews work to resolve the problem. The trackside computers that control the trains are not affected by the problem, Johnson said. "We can't 'see' the trains, and so we're asking most of the trains to stop," Johnson said.

"We've got every crew that we can muster right now scrambling to get to the operations control center and out on the system so that way we can start moving service again on a limited basis," Johnson said.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.