Massachusetts lawmakers will convene an oversight hearing on July 18 to probe safety failures at the MBTA, and they also plan to schedule an additional hearing some time in early August, top Democrats announced Wednesday.
Rep. William Straus and Sen. Brendan Crighton, the two chairs of the Legislature's Transportation Committee, set a date to begin their public examination of a string of derailments, injuries, fatal malfunctions and other problems that have thrust the T into the spotlight.
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The Transportation Committee will gavel in its oversight hearing at 10 a.m. on July 18, where lawmakers plan to explore "issues related to deficiencies in safety management practices at the MBTA," according to an advisory. The chairs have not yet announced a location or witnesses who will be asked to testify.
Straus, a Mattapoisett Democrat, and Crighton, a Lynn Democrat, are also "working on scheduling matters for a further hearing in the early part of August," the advisory said. Legislative leaders announced plans for an oversight hearing on June 21, less than a week after federal investigators who continue to probe the MBTA ordered immediate fixes to address urgent safety issues and the T slashed weekday subway service on the Red, Orange and Blue Lines in response.
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More on the MBTA
Straus helmed a Transportation Committee oversight hearing in 2019, when his panel examined failures at the Registry of Motor Vehicles leading up to a deadly New Hampshire crash involving a Massachusetts driver whose license should have been suspended.
