This is all it takes to stop a train (feat. Rachel Swan)

This is all it takes to stop a train (feat. Rachel Swan)

From Lock and Code by Malwarebytes

March 22, 2026 · 36 min · Season 7 · Episode 6

About this episode

The episode discusses the frequent breakdowns of the BART system in the Bay Area due to networking issues.

Forget the runaway train thrillingly shot in Buster Keaton’s 1926 film “The General,” and never mind the charging locomotive rescued by actors Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in the 2010 film “Unstoppable,” as there’s a far more frequent (and far less heart-pounding) railcar drama happening across California’s Bay Area: The repeated breakdown of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, all because of a few networking errors. Opened in 1972, BART today carries about 175,000 people every weekday on five separate lines to 50 different stations placed across dozens of cities in the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City, Fremont, Richmond, and more. Its tracks and railcars travel both above ground and below, and it is one of the only public transit systems in the US that goes underwater—traveling through what is called the TransBay tube. It is likely the region’s largest public project, spanning 131 miles of track, with a fleet of more than 700 cars, proving vital to workers and residents everywhere, and on May 9, 2025, it all came grinding to a halt, due to what BART officials called a “computer networking problem.” At the Glen Park station in San…

People in this episode

Guest: Rachel Swan

Topics covered

  • public transit
  • networking errors
  • BART system
  • California transportation
  • railcar drama
  • Bay Area

Keywords

  • BART
  • Bay Area
  • public transit
  • networking problems
  • California
  • train breakdown
  • transportation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bay Area Rapid Transit

Books & works: The General, Unstoppable

Places: California, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Daly City, Fremont, Richmond

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