A track equipment failure shut down BART's Yellow Line between the Lafayette and Pleasant Hill stations for roughly an hour Monday, July 27, disrupting early-morning commuters traveling in both directions.

BART reported the problem at approximately 5:50 a.m., according to a Patch report by Angela Woodall. Trains heading toward both Antioch and San Francisco International Airport were initially running about 10 minutes behind schedule. By 6 a.m., the agency suspended service entirely between the two stations and urged riders to find alternate transportation.

Service resumed at about 7 a.m. BART warned passengers to expect residual delays as the system returned to its regular schedule.

The agency has not disclosed the cause of the equipment failure.

August maintenance will bring more overnight delays

Lafayette-area riders should also plan for disruptions next week. BART has scheduled rail "destressing" work between the North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point stations from Tuesday, August 4, through Thursday, August 6. The maintenance was originally planned for July but was postponed to early August.

During the work, crews will reduce service from two tracks to one beginning at midnight each night and continuing until regular morning service starts. Riders should expect delays of 20 to 25 minutes on those nights.

Rail destressing is a process that reduces heat-related stress on tracks and improves long-term reliability, according to BART.

As of Wednesday, July 29, BART's planned service advisories page did not yet list the August Yellow Line maintenance. The page showed a separate ongoing advisory: 30-minute nightly delays between Millbrae, SFO, and Daly City stations for train control modernization work, running Sunday through Thursday evenings starting at 9 p.m.

BART did not identify whether additional phases of the destressing project are planned beyond the August dates.

Riders can check real-time service alerts and sign up for email and text notifications here.