Report: BART staffing empty Warm Springs station in Fremont

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ByMatt Keller KGO logo
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Report: BART staffing empty Warm Springs station in Fremont
A Fremont BART station is not even open yet. No trains and no passengers, but it has plenty of staff.

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- A Fremont BART station is not even open yet -- no trains and no passengers, but it has plenty of staff. It has full time staffing with several employees, including two janitors, cleaning an empty station.

Five station agents, who can make up to $74,000 and a train dispatch supervisor who makes close to $90,000 a year according to the San Francisco Chronicle, are stationed in Warm Springs. Two janitors meet there in the morning and then drive a BART car to different locations in the system to clean up.

BART says the union contract only allows employees to bid on station postings twice a year. BART thought they were going to be open last year and staffed up. The only problem, well, technical problems with operations and the track, delayed the opening and those workers still have to show up.

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BART says those full time employees at an empty station are still doing important work.

"It's a large area to cover. We are a closed system. Which means that we can't, you can't come upon the BART tracks and we try to keep people out and so that station agent is in the booth watching the cameras and making sure people aren't vandalizing the station or trying to cut a hole in our fence and into the wayside area is where the electrified 3rd rail is so they are performing a vital function," said Taylor Huckaby, BART spokesperson.

BART says large construction projects like this often have unforeseen delays and that's what they're experiencing.

A spokesperson says the goal is to have this open sometime in mid to late March.

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