BOSTON (WHDH) - The MBTA gave a progress update on its efforts to correct several safety concerns detailed in a Federal Transit Administration report issued last month.
“Following the FTA’s initial safety review, the MBTA was asked to implement changes to the system to improve the way it is run and operated,” said MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak. “I am pleased that the MBTA has completed many of those updates and continues to make progress on many more. These recommendations will make the T safer and more reliable for both our riders and our employees. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to work closely with these safety experts to improve the MBTA system.”
So far, the MBTA has met all the FTA’s deadlines and requirements in response to four special directives issued, and continues to develop corrective action plans to address them, according to the MBTA. The four directives involved delayed critical maintenance, train movement operating procedures, staffing and the system’s employee recertification process.
Already, the MBTA has done the following:
-Issued new safety directives, trainings and policies for operators at yard facilities and car houses
-Ensured all active rail transit employees are certified. The MBTA is developing an improved internal tracking system to ensure up-to-date recertifications.
-Prioritized track projects in need of most repair that currently have substantial speed restrictions. Projects include installing 500 feet of rail between the Back Bay and Massachusetts Avenue stations, allowing the train to shave one minute off its route
-Updated procedures for accessing track areas to increase the time crews have to perform overnight work
-Launching an “aggressive” hiring campaign for drivers, dispatchers and inspectors
-Updated rules to allow for more manageable shifts and break time
This update comes hours after 7NEWS exclusively obtained video of several runaway trains, including one that crashed into a barrier and another that derailed, causing the train to start smoking and requiring passengers to exit through the train’s windows. The FTA is investigating five similar incidents.
The MBTA, however, disputes that all these incidents are runaways, given that some were manned at the time.
“To have a train go backwards, that’s a very, very dangerous situation, and the FTA was right to bring that to the attention of the MBTA,” Berkowitz said of the video.
As 7NEWS previously reported, the FTA launched an investigation following the March dragging death of Robinson Lalin after Red Line subway doors closed on his arm at the Broadway MBTA station. That came after other high-profile injuries, including a Green Line crash sending dozens to the hospital and and escalator malfunction at Back Bay Station causing numerous injuries last year.
The FTA’s report blasted the MBTA and the state Department of Public Utilities, which oversees the T, saying both departments have system-wide problems that need attention now.
“The combination of inadequate procedures and staffing and a safety culture where others look away when individuals do not follow basic safety rules create circumstances that result in unacceptable and entirely unavoidable incidents,” said FTA spokesman Paul Kincaid last month. “We’ll be ordering both the MBTA and the DPU to address these critical safety issues immediately.”
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