Feds to Investigate MBTA Safety

“FTA leadership recently discussed the pattern of safety incidents with MBTA executive leadership, yet it remains unclear what actions the MBTA Board and executive team are implementing to prevent and address the system’s safety violations.”

The letter cited safety failures, including the death on the Red Line last month of Robinson Lalin, who got caught in a subway door at Broadway Station and was dragged about 100 feet to his death.

And don't forget the Green Line and the malfunctioning escalators.

Or the late 2019 Safety report the MBTA asked an independent group of industry professionals to produce after the Red Line derailment. That was quickly pushed aside by COVID a few months later and forgotten. No surprise now that things are picking back up it's becoming an issue.

Where the wheel sheered off because the grounding strap failed and was arcing? And it took out three signal bungalows with the entire signal system for the 1970s part of the Red Line, requiring them to rebuild an obsolete signal system that they had planned to replace in a few years at $UNKM? That was so bizarre they kinda get a pass. But when the Red Line car moved through a few stations with passengers but operator out of the car to throw a switch because he had allegedly bypassed the deadman switch... no pass on that one!

The FMCB had just eliminated the ultrasonic testing that would have detected the flaw in the fractured axle that caused the JFK derailment as a cost cutting measure, and they get a pass for what reason?

The South Shore runaway is a bit of a time stretch, but the largest fault I find with that is the lack of institutional knowledge. That so few employees know what a trip cock is or how it works not a single one thought to trip the train and stop it is mind blowing to me. There's another incident that would've been prevented by having a second employee on board.

The T and its governance deserve a pass for neither.

CRail wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 1:13 am The South Shore runaway is a bit of a time stretch, but the largest fault I find with that is the lack of institutional knowledge. That so few employees know what a trip cock is or how it works not a single one thought to trip the train and stop it is mind blowing to me. There's another incident that would've been prevented by having a second employee on board.

The T and its governance deserve a pass for neither.

How would a trip cock be used since there are no trip arms on the South Shore line? Are there portable trip arms that can be set up?

Do the Red Line trains even have trip cocks?

Whatever they have, it is fortunate that there was some type of automatic stop, otherwise that train would have crashed.

Apparently there are portable trip arms and the cars do still have trip cocks. See this series of posts from the runaway thread: post1361481.html#p1361481.

BandA wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 6:37 pm Whatever they have, it is fortunate that there was some type of automatic stop, otherwise that train would have crashed.

The trips are the automatic stop, and they were not used. Topography stopped the train, not any sort of automatic protection.

StreetblogMASS just published the letter that the April 14th letter that the FTA sent to the MBTA in this story —
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/05/10 ... ver-the-t/

The full MBTA Board met on April 28th. There was no mention of the FTA letter and what the MBTA was doing, one would assume, to prepare for the arrival FTA's Safety Management Inspection team.

The GM of the MBTA and possibly the Chair of the MBTA Board should resign for failing to bring the letter to the attention of the full Board during its meeting on April 28th. They also failed in their duty to inform the public of the FTA letter which should have been made public without delay.

In the corporate world such a letter would in all likelihood have been considered "material information" that would need to be disclosed to the public promptly. Of course, the MBTA and its Board does not operate according to the rules of the SEC.

Cannot believe that MBTA did not disclose. After what is happening why in the world didn't, they disclose. Yes, it was bad news but covering up for later disclosure always worse. Always found giving out good and bad info gets your business internally knowing screw ups get quick attention. Maybe the rest of rail & bus + bus only systems might get the message. It is time for a national surface transportation anonymous reporting system in place with teeth. Just like the FAA reporting system. That system has caused many safety problems corrected with any personal problems not highlighted. Personal deliberate infractions are not exempt from action.

NDAs not allowed to impede investigations.
,

"Kane of the MBTA advisory board" in that short quote seems more concerned with so-called fare equity and changing bus routes than safety. I hope that quote is out of context, but I think we need to bring back the FMCB and rename it the Fiscal Management and Safety Control Board.

The idea of hundreds of federal bureaucrats though is chilling - I don't want Charlie to take off his shoes to ride.

4 issues the Feds want the T to fix:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... aturestack

And now this...
"Green Line service is suspended between Park Street and Government Center while we investigate reports that two Green Line trains unintentionally coupled on the Government Center platform at a slow rate of speed." MBTA Twitter.