Members of the MBTA’s Safety, Health & Environment Subcommittee stated they have been happy to have federal investigators trying right into a spate of current security issues — a few of them deadly — inside the transit company’s system.
“Safety is our No. 1 priority and we will fully support the (Safety Management Inspection) review and cooperate with the (Federal Transit Authority),” stated MBTA Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester stated on the subcommittee’s Monday assembly.
Board Member Scott Darling concurred, saying that an inspection was welcome, and that any potential enchancment to security provided is price contemplating.
Board Member Mary Beth Mello stated she, too, was within the FTA’s assessment, “keenly” so, she stated.
The subcommittee’s embrace of the investigation comes after the considerably unscripted announcement that the feds have been on the town.
Last week it surfaced in media studies investigators from the FTA would descend on town and start trying into the transit authority’s security practices.
In an April 14 letter to General Manager Steve Poftak, the FTA stated it was “extremely concerned with the ongoing safety issues” on the company.
The FTA’s letter got here following a sequence of current MBTA derailments, crashes and floor degree crossing fatalities.
And investigators particularly referenced a lethal April 10 incident by which passenger Robinson Lalin, 39, was killed after being dragged into the Broadway station tunnel by a Red line prepare he was exiting.
The door mechanism meant to detect obstruction apparently failed, in response to preliminary studies, trapping Lalin’s arm.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation into that incident continues to be ongoing with a last report not but revealed.
“The maintenance group has changed their inspection cycle and the way inspections are being done,” Ester stated of the door mechanisms.
The subcommittee requested Ester to supply an replace if any additional trains have been discovered with an identical defect.
Ester instructed the subcommittee the FTA met with MBTA officers final week, that they may conduct their investigation over the following a number of weeks, and {that a} report ought to be anticipated earlier than the top of summer season.
News of the investigation solely got here to mild after information studies of the arrival of investigators.
The MBTA final held their month-to-month board assembly on April 28. The letter informing Poftak of the investigation is dated April 14.
The board, whereas acknowledging his loss of life and providing their condolences to Lalin’s household, didn’t reference receipt of the FTA’s letter at that assembly.
A spokesperson for the MBTA instructed the Herald Monday that the query of when to reveal the investigation was the as much as the FTA.
“While the timing of when to disclose their inspection is entirely up to the FTA, the MBTA is focusing its efforts on doing what is necessary to make public transportation as safe as possible,” the spokesperson stated in an emailed assertion.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
