BOSTON (WHDH) - Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday insisted that the MBTA is safe for public use despite a slew of recent incidents, including a Red Line train derailment on Tuesday that caused headaches for infuriated commuters who were forced to deal with lengthy delays.
One day after the Red Line train derailed at Broadway Station and ripped a concrete chunk off the platform, Baker assured riders that the transit system can be relied upon for everyday use.
“I think there have been eight derailments in the last 24 months. That’s eight too many,” Baker said. “But again, the T is safe. Every single day, thousands and thousands of people rely on it to get to where they’re going and it works.”
The slow-speed derailment on the southbound tracks led to service disruptions around 9:45 a.m., shortly after the height of the morning commute, a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority spokesman said. Shuttle buses were called upon to replace service through the evening commute as MBTA personnel worked to re-rail the damaged train.
Forty-seven people were on the train at the time of the incident. There were no reported injuries.
The cause of the derailment wasn’t immediately clear.
In a statement on the derailment, the transit authority said, “The MBTA has increased capital spending every year since the winter of 2015 to help make transit services and infrastructure more reliable.”
Baker added, “Find me another administration that has spent $5 billion on modernizing and upgrading a system that was horribly neglected for decades before we took office.”
For many commuters who ride the T each day, the money Baker spoke of doesn’t mean much.
“It’s a little embarrassing sometimes seeing other cities and how advanced they are, and how clean and on time they are,” Daniel Alemu said. “So, it’s definitely something that needs to get fixed.”
The Transit Is Essential coalition, as well as advocates, riders, and municipal leaders, plan to gather at the State House Thursday morning to call on state officials to take immediate action on public transportation safety and funding.
“A safe and reliable transit system is critical to our recovery, and more important than ever,” the group said in a statement. “We call on the Legislature and the Governor to take action before another preventable, foreseeable failure results in more injuries.”
The MBTA says work is underway to replace the Red Line cars, as well as to upgrade tracks and signals.
Over the summer, a Green Line operator allegedly shifted their train’s master controller into the “full-power position” moments before colliding with another trolley at more than 30 mph on the B Line near the Agganis Arena, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation found.
On Sunday, a malfunctioning escalator threw passengers backwards and shredded their limbs at the MBTA Back Bay Station.
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