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  On New Year’s Day in San Francisco Bay Area, a commuter train derailed and caught on fire. Minor injuries were reported and the service was disrupted.
  
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  A number of passengers were transported to hospital with minor injuries.
  
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  Orinda Station closed for the day while crews removed damaged cars from the tracks and inspected them.
  

Officials said that several people were injured and the service was disrupted after a commuter rail derailed and caught on fire in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Around 9 am on Monday, the Bay Area Rapid Transit train was just leaving Orinda to head for Lafayette when the two front cars fell off the track. Agency spokesperson Jim Allison confirmed this.

He said that all passengers were evacuated and firefighters extinguished the flames quickly in two cars.

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Allison reported that several passengers with minor injuries were transported to hospitals. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured. The passengers who remained walked to Orinda Station.

Enrique Gonzalez, a passenger on the train, said that it was delayed. When it began moving again he “heard a few loud pops” as well as “saw smoke billowing between cars.”

He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I was right there at the windows and saw the fires shooting up.”

Allison stated that early indications indicated the derailment occurred at an interlocking rail section, , where trains could switch from one track to another. The cause of the derailment, which occurred about 8 miles northeast from Oakland, was not immediately known.

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Officials did not immediately announce how many passengers were aboard the train at the time of its derailment.

The Chronicle reported that service was suspended on a 12-mile rail stretch between Rockridge, California and Walnut Creek, California in both directions. BART officials have said that Orinda Station will likely be closed the rest of today as crews remove damaged cars and inspect tracks.

Allison stated that while the transit system carried fewer passengers on New Year’s Day than usual, the disruption is likely to affect tens or thousands of people.

He said, “It is unfortunate that people are left stranded during a holiday such as this.”