BART Bosses Training To Break Strike When Two BART Scabs Murdered

BART Bosses Training To Break Strike When Two BART Scabs Murdered
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Insider-BART-trai...
BART training for strike when 2 killed
By Matier & Ross

11:01 PM

San Francisco Police

Jennie Zhu's car's 'black box' may hold clues in a fatal crash.
An informed transit insider tells us that the BART train that struck and killed two workers on the tracks near the Walnut Creek station on Saturday was on a strike-related training run at the time of the accident.

"They were practicing training people how to operate and have the skills in the event of an extended strike," said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

The source, however, said BART's official description - that the train was on a routine maintenance run at the time - may also be true. The source was referring to a statement by Paul Oversier, BART's assistant general manager, that the train was returning to Concord after hauling two cars that had been defaced with graffiti to the maintenance yard in Richmond.

Reached Sunday afternoon, Oversier declined to comment, saying the accident is now under review by the National Transportation Safety Board, and everyone "is under direct orders not to discuss the incident."

"That's standard practice," Oversier said. "There's an absolute gag order."

BART board President Tom Radulovich also declined to comment, citing the NTSB investigation.

BART union representatives meanwhile were awaiting further information, but they speculated off the record that BART was training its managers how to control the trains should they have to step in to provide skeletal service between San Francisco and the East Bay if the strike is protracted.

There are reports that as many as a half-dozen people were aboard the train at the time of the accident, though neither their names nor positions have been disclosed. However, according to our source, the driver at the time of the accident was a veteran trainer whose job was hiring operators.

But officials say the train was being run "in automatic mode under computer control" at the time of the accident.