BART passengers may be noticing a number of service stops between Glen Park and the 24th Street station, and while this may offer little solace to riders running behind schedule, the agency has said that the interruptions are planned and necessary.

According to spokesman Linton Johnson, the brief stops are safety precautions that need to be taken until a problem with the agency’s computer system is fixed. For an unknown reason, the agency’s computer system has not been able to detect trains on the line between Glen Park and 24th Street. As a result, the computer has recently been attempting to shut down BART’s automatic service between the stations.

To compensate for that issue, BART operators have been forced to switch the trains from automatic to manual mode, a transition that requires a quick stop of the vehicle.

Johnson said the agency is working on fixing the computer glitch, but doesn’t know exactly when the problem will be cleared.

wreisman@sfexaminer.com