When smoke filled a BART train that suddenly stopped inside the Transbay Tube last Friday, there were no immediate messages to the passengers aboard about what was going on — causing fear and panic in the underwater passage, according to a letter one passenger sent to BART officials on Wednesday.
Now, nearly a week later, BART still has not provided the public with a clear explanation about what went wrong — and whether it could happen again.
The rush-hour shutdown Friday, which BART attributed to an “equipment problem,” resulted in an hourslong shutdown in service between San Francisco and Oakland. Firefighters and paramedics responded to the Embarcadero and West Oakland BART stations waiting for passengers in case there were injuries.Inside the Transbay Tube — a 3.6-mile-long underwater rail connector that links San Francisco with Oakland — dozens of passengers panicked when their train suddenly stopped and started to fill with smoke, passenger Alan Mond told the Chronicle…