One of the top safety officials at the MBTA will depart the transportation authority at the end of the month.
In a message to MBTA employee, General Manager Phillip Eng announced that Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester would resign from his role effective Aug. 30.
Ester previously worked at the Chicago Transit Authority before joining the MBTA three years ago, and played a role in “implementing recommendations, policies and practices following the 2019 Safety Panel Report, including the Safety Management System, our COVID response efforts and recovery, and the subsequent FTA Safety Management Inspection,” Eng stated.
“I am grateful for Ron’s service to the MBTA. He has made a real difference in the safety of our system, and he will be missed,” Eng stated.
Ester’s departure comes after the MBTA faced a slew of calls for action by the Federal Transit Administration, including orders to review numerous close-calls between trains and workers, cases of runaway trains, and other incidents, including an Orange Line train catching fire in 2022.
The announcement also came less than a week after the MBTA announced that it was addressing “arc flash” injuries and third rail safety.
Earlier in June, the MBTA said it had revised its worker safety plan to address issues outlined by the FTA, and has been tracking its own progress as it works to meet a Safety Management Inspection (SMI) report issued by federal regulators.
Ester later released a statement that read in-part:
“I am proud of the work that we have done to make our system safer during my tenure, despite the many challenges that we have faced. The MBTA has been underinvested in for decades, and it has taken a lot of hard work to make our system as safe as it is today.”
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