MBTA Safety Improvement Plan Released

The MBTA has released its three-year safety improvement plan, with hopes of getting things back on track amid ongoing service disruptions and safety concerns.

The plan explains exactly how the agency intends to transform itself into a safe, reliable system.

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The MBTA released the three-year safety improvement plan to bring the transit system up to federal requirements, after last year’s scathing report from the FTA. The 63-page document includes targeted timelines to get the objectives done.

The T is short 1,800 workers of what it needs, with 1,100 vacant positions to fill and 600 fewer bus operators than the average of the previous four years, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation

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Some of those deadlines aren’t too far away.

By June 2023, the T hopes to improve worker safety with PPE policies, preventative and corrective maintenance practices and reduce the percentage of track that’s under speed restrictions. By the end of the year, the goal is to decrease disabled trains and other unintentional movements.

The plan also sets out to reduce fatalities and injuries at the T and has a detailed log of injuries reported last year. Additionally, there's a $212 million dollar project to prevent collisions and control speeds on the Green Line.

“There's no indication that they have the personnel to do the job, and there's no indication that the funds that are needed are all in place," transportation engineer Carl Berkowitz said. "It looks more like a PR document than really a plan.”

The safety plan comes after some other major developments at the troubled transit agency.

The news of Neider's departure comes amid a lot of attention toward the MBTA's upper management and executive team, with the Healey Administration tapping former Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng to be the next general manager of the T.

The MBTA is raising signing bonuses to $7,500 after a report shows staffing shortages. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found the T needs to hire 2,800 workers within the next year just to be fully operational.

“I think we really need to treat this crisis situation as an opportunity to completely transform the T," Senator Brendan Crighton said. "Like I said, failure’s not an option. Massachusetts is not Massachusetts without the T — without public transit.”

The MBTA says the Safety Improvement Plan will be updated every year with updates on what progress has been made.