OAKLAND, Calif. — A commuter rail strike that threatened to cripple the San Francisco Bay Area was averted yesterday as management and a union reached an agreement hours before the strike deadline, officials said. Representatives from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and Bay Area Rapid Transit negotiated through the weekend to avoid a walkout affecting some 330,000 weekday riders of the nation's fifth-largest rail system.

The pact still must be ratified by operators and ticket agents. Local 1555 threatened to strike today after BART's board of directors imposed rules the union says amount to a 7 percent pay cut. BART is seeking $100 million in labor cost savings, including $38 million from the union.

MASS. REJECTS MADOFF SETTLEMENT OFFER

BOSTON — Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin's office has rejected a proposed settlement by a New York-based investment firm to repay nearly $6 million to state investors who lost money in Bernard Madoff's fraudulent investment scheme.

Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff said yesterday his agency is not accepting Fairfield Greenwich Group's offer to fully refund nearly a dozen investors in the state because officials are still trying to identify all the affected investors. Galvin filed a civil fraud complaint against Fairfield Greenwich in April, saying officials were coached by Madoff on how to answer federal investigators' questions.