BART takes action to ease heat related issues to system

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The heat continues to overwhelm people in the Bay Area as they are doing what they can to stay cool. Even BART took action Tuesday to cool down the train control rooms that overheat and create delays.

Portable air conditioners were delivered to a number of BART train control rooms to keep the equipment from overheating. Still, there were heat-related problems throughout the day.

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Mary Cooper got off a plane from New York and rode BART to the MacArthur Station.

"It stopped in front of an empty lot for about 10 minutes and then it went really slow like I could have run along the track," explained Cooper.

The tracks had also expanded making for a bumpy ride in places where the joints were not lining up.

BART had also problems with its track switches not moving into the proper position forcing trains to slow down.

On Monday, one of our ABC7 News producers tweeted about the long lines just to get past the fare gates at the Montgomery station in San Francisco.

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BART also took technicians off regular maintenance duties to be available to work on any cars that were pulled out of service because of overheating.

The heat was also affecting regular folks at home. The demand for fans was a real thing.

The Cole Hardware store on Polk Street ran out Monday by noon and had to quickly order more.

"I want to say so far we only have 12 left form 25, so it's been only an hour maybe," said Leo Sepulveda, the manager of the store.

"I just moved here from New York and I'm getting my house sorted and it's hot and I need a fan," complained Varun Sanon now a San Francisco resident.

Ronnie Silverblatt was visiting from Ft. Lauderdale.

"I'm from Ft. Lauderdale. I've been there for 30 years and this is hot," laughed Silverblatt.