Berkeley Amtrak Luggage Scare Ends With 'No Threat' Finding After Five-Hour Hold; Mother and Daughter Arrested

A Wednesday evening scare at the Berkeley Amtrak station ended with police saying there was no threat to the public after a bomb team checked luggage left on a Capitol Corridor train. Two women — a mother and daughter — were arrested on suspicion of train-related violations, The Berkeley Scanner reported in a late-night update.

Amtrak's Capitol Corridor Train 540 was stopped at Berkeley for more than five hours while officers, the Berkeley Police Department bomb team, and dogs from Amtrak and BART worked the scene. The station sits under the University Avenue overpass just west of Fourth Street at 700 University Ave.

Timeline

Berkeley police got a call at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, about a suspicious circumstance at the Amtrak station, the Scanner reported. By about 5:06 p.m., 511 SF Bay listed Train 540 as stopped at Berkeley. KRON4, citing Berkeley police, said officers responded just before 5 p.m. after Amtrak asked for help with a "suspicious package," that the BPD Bomb Team joined the response, and that the train was evacuated.

Amtrak later confirmed it was checking unattended luggage and that other trains could not pass through Berkeley until the investigation finished. As of about 6:30 p.m., two people had been detained, the Scanner said. By about 7:30 p.m., an Amtrak spokesman told the Scanner that passengers from the affected train had left with a mix of buses and ride-share vouchers.

Around 9:45 p.m., some riders who had waited outside were allowed back on the train to continue their trips. Authorities X-rayed the bags and determined they were safe. An Amtrak conductor later spotted the women who had left the luggage, and officers arrested them at the nearby Apple store on Fourth Street. They were booked into Berkeley Jail. By about 10 p.m., police were leaving the area; BPD directed further questions to Amtrak and said its officers had assisted.

What police said afterward

In a 12:25 a.m. Thursday update, the Scanner quoted authorities as finding "no threat" to public safety. The women were arrested on suspicion of train-related violations; no further details were immediately available. Streets around the station were blocked during the investigation.

The hold disrupted Capitol Corridor service through West Berkeley for much of the evening — the same corridor that carries extra trains for big South Bay events, as in our guide to Bruno Mars transit options at Levi's Stadium. Regional rail funding is also on the November ballot; see our Measure RTM explainer and BART's recent ridership rebound. Berkeley residents dealing with Thursday's weather-related outages can also check our PG&E shutoff update for the Berkeley and Oakland hills.