BOSTON — The new general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority received a sampling of the safety issues that have plagued the transit agency on Thursday, taking part in a meeting that revealed four incidents in the last month in which track workers were nearly struck by subway trains.
CommonWealth Magazine reports General Manager Philip Eng, who began work on Monday, was part of a safety subcommittee meeting that learned of the four near-miss incidents, as well as other problems, such as a train that operated with a hand brake engaged for most of one trip, damaging a wheel.
The nature of the near-miss incidents varied. In two, the track workers failed to get permission to work in a specific area. In another, a train failed to obey a stop signal, while the fourth involved a train that had been delayed and arrived when it was not expected.
Eng said the incidents “are avoidable and should not be happening,” and that addressing such problems “is my top priority.”
The Boston Herald reports that the third of the four incidents led the MBTA to issue a “safety standdown,” prohibiting work along the right-of-way until dispatchers and workers were briefed on proper procedure. The state Department of Public Utilities, which is charged with MBTA safety oversight, also issued a letter requiring immediate corrective action.
The MBTA’s ongoing safety issues led the Federal Transit Administration to issue a series of directives last year; addressing those directives is an ongoing process that the transit agency now tracks online [see “MBTA launches ‘safety dashboard’ …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 27, 2023].
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