BART working to fix defective wheels issue

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- One of the reasons BART trains have been shorter and more crowded recently is because the agency is taking rail cars out of service to fix defective wheels.

BART started looking into the problem when a wheel fell off of a moving train car at the Pleasant Hill station. The agency then inspected all of its trains and discovered 20 cars had defective wheels.

The wheels on 13 cars have been fixed and put back into service. Seven cars are still out of service and will be for the next two weeks -- which means the trains will be more crowded.

BART's assistant general manager said the wheel issue is a serious problem and they are talking to the wheel supplier about compensating BART. He thinks the wheel company did not properly cast the metal and inspect the product.

This comes as BART is working on a rehabilitation project, where trains are taken out of service every day to replace carpet, seats and air conditioning systems.