BRAINTREE, MASS. (WHDH) - State House lawmakers will vote on Thursday to give the MBTA a credit line of $400 million to address the string of recent safety issues.
The MBTA pulled all-new Orange and Red Line cars from service on Tuesday due to safety concerns this week, confirming the removal the same day officials announced a supervisor was suspended after uncoupled cars from a Red Line train rolled through Braintree station last month.
Those are the latest major safety issues for the MBTA, which is facing increasing scrutiny after a scathing report from the Federal Transit Administration. The federal agency is leading its own investigation into the T following the dragging death of a passenger at a Red Line station earlier in the year.
The report also prompted the MBTA to make service cuts on multiple lines.
“The T is supposed to be a system that’s put in place as a convenience and it’s certainly not convenient,” one commuter told 7NEWS.
After a battery failure in an out-of-service Orange Line car in the Wellington Yard Monday morning, MBTA officials pulled all of the new Orange and Red Line cars off the tracks while while they investigate the issue. Last month, T officials removed all of those cars from service following a braking issue.
And last month also saw yet another runaway train, a problem singled out by the FTA in its report. Officials said Tuesday that on May 30, workers tried to uncouple the last two cars from a Red Line Train at Braintree because of an air conditioning problem, but re-coupled them to the other four cars after having difficulties. They then sent the train into the yard, with the last two cars towing the other four cars, when the four cars detached and rolled backward.
No one was injured by the runaway cars, officials said, and the cars did not derail or damage any property before coming to a stop on their own. Officials said they have placed a Red Line supervisor on administrative suspension while they investigate.
Officials said MBTA is retraining subway personnel on uncoupling procedures and uncoupling is only allowed in yards.
Riders said the T needs to fix its safety problems so thousands of residents can travel across the area.
“It’s very dangerous and we definitely have to be cautious,” said rider Nate Chery. “We should try to work something out and get better improvements … there’s a lot of people that don’t have cars and rely on public transportation.”
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