Update: BART Trains Will Run Wednesday As Negotiations Continue

A federal mediator announced Tuesday night that BART trains will run on normal schedule on Wednesday.

The announcement came as BART and its two largest unions continued their closed-door negotiations late Tuesday night.

No details were released on the contract proposals under discussion.

"Bargaining continues to take place... the parties have made some progress," said federal mediator George Cohen.

Negotiators for BART and the unions resumed their talks at 1 p.m. Tuesday with hopes for a long-awaited settlement.

The transit agency and representatives from Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union 1555 talked well past midnight Monday night after the unions presented a new contract proposal.

The unions lifted their threat of a midnight strike. So far, there's been no public announcement of another strike deadline.

The union's proposal was a counteroffer to BART's Sunday night contract proposal that included a 12 percent raise over four years.

On Tuesday afternoon, SEIU spokesman Des Patten praised the federal mediators who have joined the talks for bringing the two sides closer together.

"They're doing a good job," he said.

BART spokesman Rick Rice said progress has been made in the negotiations in the past 24 hours. However, he wouldn't say whether the transit agency is optimistic or not about reaching a settlement soon.

"We are working hard to get a contract," he said.

Meanwhile, AC Transit's board of directors asked Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday to invoke a 60-day cooling off period in their contract negotiations.

AC Transit unions announced a 72-hour strike deadline on Monday. That agency's workers could walk off the job as early as Thursday morning.