Stanford Politics

Today, around 2:20 pm, the NB429 CalTrain northbound to San Francisco was evacuated at the San Mateo station. The train and station were shut down and evacuated for over 45 minutes. The conductor announced that there was a suspicious package on the train that might be an explosive.

According to police on the scene, the transit authority contacted the county dispatcher who alerted local law enforcement. Police arrived within 10 minutes and began ushering passengers away from the station. Additional police arrived later and put up caution tape moving passengers and onlookers across the street.

A second suspicious package was reported on the street corner near the train station and passengers were ushered further away as the perimeter of the evacuated area was expanded.

“In my 18 years on the force, I had never shut down the entire station,” one police officer said. The same officer confirmed to Stanford Politics that a “bomb squad”-like team was en route to the scene. The officer also mentioned that the description of the suspicious package in question was akin to a grenade-shaped object that also resembled “pre-workout energy drinks.”

As of 3:15, the station was reopened and the train was boarded again.

This bomb scare, triggered by what was likely a forgotten energy drink, comes on the heels of multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, including an attack in Thousand Oaks, California this past Wednesday.

UPDATE: A Caltrain employee, speaking anonymously as they were not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed that the object in question was shaped like a grenade and had the word “grenade” written on it. At least one passenger told this official and local law enforcement that he had seen such a drink before and it was not an explosive. The CalTrain employee and multiple police officers had not seen the drink in question and therefore continued the evacuation.

At this time, CalTrain was not prepared to comment on the story other than confirming details with regard to what had happened.