Officials with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority say they have taken steps to restore the system and the results of both an internal investigation and third-party report show that their focus is moving them in the right direction - but they did not have a clear sense of how long all the work would take and when speed restrictions would be lifted across the board.
MBTA CEO and General Manager Phillip Eng held a press conference Thursday to discuss the independent report, done by consulting group Carlson Transport, and the internal investigation led by the MBTA Safety Department.
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From fires to derailments, the MBTA's safety concerns are well documented, but the T has been undergoing major maintenance projects lately in hopes of boosting safety and reliability for riders.
The independent review focused on three key categories – improving processes and procedures, including creating standard operating procedures and documentation guidelines, increasing staffing in the Maintenance of Way division and to assess staffing across all departments, and defining clear roles and responsibilities and creating better training systems.
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The external review hit similar key points - those were broken down as enhancing selection/qualifications, increasing Maintenance of Way staffing, improving training and ensuring section foreman can witness vendor testing.
Eng said since he's taken over these issues have been part of the focus, and added that he is committed to rebuilding and restoring the agency.
“As an agency we need to evolve, the status quo is unacceptable," he said.
Eng didn't offer a timeline for when speed restrictions, a point of pain for many riders, might be lifted across the whole system, but said that since March 2023 the agency has worked to document the condition of tracks and target the worst areas for repair first. The speed restrictions were implemented in March 2023 as those inspections began.
“The speed restrictions that are in place today are to ensure safety of the public and our workforce," Eng said, adding that more information would be forthcoming on the topic at a later date.
The ensuring inspection work found there was a systemic problem with the quality of the inspections being done. Among those issues were a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities of system repairpersons and supervising foremen in the Maintenance of Way Division, inadequate training or experience, inadequete communication with vendors who work with the MBTA on these track inspections and testing, and workers not fulfilling the responsibilities to the current standard.
Eng also acknowledged that the track restrictions remain in place in part because of inadequate staffing levels at the executive and management level to tackle this massive undertaking. The work is happening while the agency addresses these issues.
"What we don’t want to do is rush the work and have it where we have to come back again," he said.
The MBTA is is clarifying roles, enhancing communication channels, and identifying single points of authority and responsibility within the Maintenance of Way division.
The agency chief noted that they are also looking at staffing across all levels and he believes the Healey administration is committed to the large-scale work needed to get the system back on track. He introduced some new hires in roles that will be tasked with the work of rebuilding, who have experience at other transportation organizations.
