Our BART train stalled in the Tube down on the floor of San Francisco Bay today. It seemed to run into some trouble as we left Oakland and entered the Transbay Tube, stopping and starting a couple times. During a stall the driver came on and said they were having technical difficulties and we would be delayed. The next time he came on he said they had to turn off the power for 90 seconds to get the train running again. There would be no lights. So there we were, down on the floor of San Francisco Bay, in complete darkness.
It felt like being on a submarine.
As I’ve mentioned before, I really, really, really don’t want to be in the Tube for the next major earthquake.
It was standing room only when I got on, with all the seats full and a few people already clustered by the doors. I always move to the middle of the compartment—it bugs me when people block the doors. The train pulls into the Oakland station, and these idiots stand on either side of the doorway so everyone has to exit single file. There’s plenty of room in the middle of the railcar, but they won’t clear the doorway. After everyone leaving has gotten off, they look around, see that seats are open, so then they move out of the doorway to go take the seats.
So it was an SRO crowd, the Monday morning drowze, people sleeping and reading their papers, and then we stopped. While I tried not to think of all that water over my head.
And then he warned us, and it went dark, very, very dark–just a crowd of complete strangers beginning their work week stranded down at the bottom of the bay in utter darkness. (Yoo hoo, I’ve changed my mind–could we go back so I can take the bus instead?)
I resisted the urge to make that submarine emergency sound: Aooooouuuwga! Aooooouuuwga! Dive, dive!
People quickly got out their cell phones and PDAs, so we had a few splashes of that eerie blue-white light. I counted off the seconds. It started to get warm. I got up over 100 (maybe I was fast) when some lights came back on, and then more, and then the fans started again, bringing cool air. After a few lurches, we got going.
I bet that delayed a lot of schedules, as trains stacked up behind us. Nothing like beginning the day with a little commute stress. Okay, a weekend’s worth of relaxation has already worn off and we haven’t even stepped in the office door yet …
Holy crap, that would have given me The Fear.
Nicely written, though.
Thanks, Trucie-woo.
We all basically froze in place. Like grouse, with a hawk overhead. Grousing inside, too.
That sounds like a Halloween thrill ride. Not good to be anywhere with no exit possible. Spooky trip you took your readers on.
I echoed Truce before I even read her response. HOLY CRAP!
I’m not claustrophobic (damn but The Deistette is bad!) and I don’t get too freaked out about being in cramped places like elevators and such but HOLY CRAP! (have i said that already)
The idea of all that water and like you said “the eerie blue lights”, and it starting to get warm, I was getting a little edgy as I kept reading.
I started thinking, “well, i know he’s ok cuz this post is here so I know I won’t read about a tunnel collapse in Oakland on CNN.com.”
But something in this post was freaking me out a little.
Glad you’re ok. And glad you had the good judgement not to make the aaoooouugah soound. : )
That would have given me what a friend calls “the screaming fantods.”
I shudder just to think about it.
BART trains do stop from time to time. When I first moved here it seemed to happen more than it does now–something to do with the computer system. So we’re used to the frustration. And I suppose they’ve had to turn the power off before–but if you’re aboveground it’s no big deal.
I did glance around before the power went off, thinking, ‘I don’t see any likely thugs or muggers.’ I suppose the thought crossed other minds, too, and why so many turned on cell phone, PDA lights.
But it was just a lot of commuters on their way to work.
I’ve never been thrilled with the idea of being down there during a big earth quake, either. Ack!
Do you think the computer was made by microsoft, explaining the need to ‘reboot’?