BART to remedy foul smell in Oakland making riders ‘gag’

“It smells like a mix of burning plastic, burning hair and burnt toast.”

Rowan Bariteau, commuter

For months, some Bay Area Rapid Transit riders have noticed a pungent stench filling trains heading south toward San Francisco from the 12th Street Station in Oakland.

“It smells like a mix of burning plastic, burning hair and burnt toast,” said commuter Rowan Bariteau, one of several people who unsuccessfully sought answers on a Reddit forum.

Bariteau wondered why she frequently detected the scent traveling to San Francisco, but never on her return to Oakland.

“It’s weird it’s only in one direction,” she told the Chronicle.

Waiting for a northbound train one recent weekday morning, Bruce Simonsen said the smell was redolent of diesel fumes, while Dylan King wondered why the transit agency has so far been unable to fix what he called “the horrible smell.”

“You sniff it and it makes you gag,” King said.

While its detection isn’t universal — some riders said they hadn’t noticed it — others described it as an ongoing nuisance and continual source of mystery. The scent is strongest as trains screech around the sharp turn between the 12th Street and West Oakland stations near the point where trains emerge from an underground tunnel, riders said.

A representative for BART offered multiple explanations.

Transit employees “described it as a petroleum smell and said it might be related to lubricant used on the rails to mitigate noise,” BART spokesperson James Allison initially said when reached for comment.

Several weeks later, after additional investigations of the underground track structures to pinpoint the source of the odor, Allison said employees now believe it may be due to a water leak.

Air sampling “did not detect any hazardous conditions” and employees do not believe the smell poses any safety risks, Allison said, adding that employees hope to resolve the issue this week.

Employees discovered leaking water in the “area where the odor is noticeable,” Allison said. He could not make an expert available to explain how the water could cause what riders described as a caustic, burning smell.

He later added that the offending odor may result from “oily water leaking from a traction power facility” that powers BART trains.

Told of BART’s explanation, some riders were dubious.

Meleah Baker, a Laney College student, said she was greeted by the gasoline-like smell “every single time” she takes BART to the public community college near Lake Merritt.

“It’s kind of like burning rubber,” Baker said.

Thea Galli was unsure how a water leak would produce what she also described as a burnt rubber smell, but said she had not considered filing a complaint and was not concerned for her safety.

“It’s unpleasant,” she said.