BOSTON — The Federal Transit Administration has approved plans by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to address two of the safety directives issued by the FTA in June, but says two others need more work.
The Boston Herald reports the federal agency has approved the MBTA’s plans to deal with track maintenance and recertification of operating employees, but asked for revisions on the plan to address problems with runaway trains at maintenance facilities and increasing staffing at the rail system’s control center, particularly among dispatchers.
Deputy General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville told a meeting of the MBTA board’s safety and health subcommittee that the agency has also completed the safety briefings required by a stand-down order issued by the FTA in July [see “FTA orders ‘safety standdown’ …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 1, 2022]. That order required all employees to receive a safety briefing before moving equipment in yards or shops, with the FTA saying unsafe practices at the MBTA created “a substantial risk of death or personal injury.”
The FTA asked for revisions to the MBTA plan on dealing with runaway equipment in light of a July 25 incident in which a train rolled out of a yard and onto a track at the Red Line’s Braintree station, an incident which occurred just before the stand-down order [see “‘Unintentional’ move of MBTA train …,” News Wire, July 26, 2022]. The FTA wanted more detail on hiring and training for the plan regarding the operations control center, Gonneville said.
The plans were required as part of the four safety directives issued by the FTA in June in light of a series of incidents, including one in which led to a passenger fatality [see “Federal directives order MBTA to address safety issues,” June 15, 2022]. The federal agency is expected to issue the full report on its recent scrutiny of MBTA practices later this month.
