VTA light rail service partially resumes after inspections caused delays following strike shutdown
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- VTA partially reopened light rail service Monday after all lines had been closed for the last three weeks because of a workers strike.
The Orange Line opened for riders just after 10 a.m. from Alum Rock Transit Center to Mountain View Transit Center with 10 trains.
The Blue Line then opened for partial service around 11:30 a.m. from downtown San Jose to Baypointe.
No word yet on when the Green Line will reopen but VTA officials said they're working to restore service 'as soon as possible' once safety checks and repairs are complete.
RELATED: VTA riders feel grateful for return of bus service after struggling during strike shutdown
VTA had been running test rides without any passengers all morning before service to the Orange Line was restored.
The inspections started last Thursday when VTA employees returned to work following a judge's ruling that workers violated a no-strike clause in their contract and issued a preliminary injunction, ending a16-day strike.
That brought bus service back to 100% of scheduled service on Friday.
Workers still do not have a contract and there's no word yet on when they plan to head back to the bargaining table.
VTA announced Monday that its offering a credit to riders with a monthly or yearly pass for the time that there was no service.
"It will be for another month coming up and so people will be able to sort of recoup their expenses for the time that they were not able to ride," said VTA Spokesperson Stacey Hendler Ross.
Bus service came back last Friday with VTA saying then that light rail was going to take longer.
Full service first came back on the orange line Monday but bringing back full light rail service has been a process.
"Light rail is a very different situation than bus. You can put a bus back on the road and it drives the light rail system is much more complex," Hendler Ross said, "In addition to the fact that we just had to go through 42 miles of track and check to make sure everything was in order, we also found multiple instances of copper wire theft."
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is responsible for investigates copper wire theft along the tracks. It said Thursday that there were two cases of it since workers went on strike. VTA said Monday it has since reported more cases and is still estimating the total cost of damages.
"It's going to be in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars, I imagine, in terms of the value of what's missing and what has to be replaced. But we don't have that total yet," Hendler Ross said.
To find out more about the VTA credits, click here.
