The MBTA will deal with 9 methods to enhance observe security for workers over the following 60 days, based on a revised work plan the beleaguered company submitted to federal officers on Monday.
The 10-page plan, shared with the Herald following a public data request, places the emphasis on enhancing communication to alert dispatchers and prepare operators of when and the place workers shall be engaged on the right-of-way, and offering methods for dispatchers within the operators’ management heart to trace employee areas.
It outlines methods to tighten up coaching for all workers concerned in work that requires right-of-way entry, from these performing observe building to personnel performing as flaggers who warn of oncoming trains, to these managing this exercise within the operations management heart, based on the plan.
“We share the goal of managing risk involving right-of-way activities, with a specific focus on reducing both the frequency and severity of incidents,” MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng wrote in a canopy letter to the FTA that accompanied the plan’s submission. “
“The submittal is segregated into the areas that will be accomplished in the next 60 days. It will also clarify measures that will require longer than 60 days to assess and implement.”
The submission follows six main right-of-way violations that occurred over a roughly one-month interval, from March 14 to April 14, together with 5 near-misses the place workers have been virtually struck by trains and a severe harm on the Blue Line the place a 2,000-pound “counterweight” fell on high of {an electrical} lineman.
The T’s preliminary work plan, submitted in early May, was rejected by the Federal Transit Administration on May 19 for being “insufficient,” in that the company aimed to begin implementing many actions that might tackle these violations by the tip of this 12 months, or into subsequent 12 months.
The FTA ordered the MBTA to submit a brand new plan by Monday, with actions that could possibly be taken inside 60 days. Officials from each entities met on Friday to debate the revised response forward of the deadline, a T spokesperson stated.
According to the T, plenty of actions included within the new plan are already underway, together with the retraining of all workers with right-of-way entry, work crew limitations on tracks, and a Blue Line pilot of a brand new solution to doc and visualize the situation of employees on the tracks.
This pilot, per Eng’s letter, offers “power maps” for operations management heart dispatchers engaged on the Blue Line, to permit them to trace the presence of employees on the right-of-way. It is about to conclude on June 30, and can inform how this system is utilized on different subway traces.
“The Blue Line was chosen as the pilot station for this activity due to the near-miss that occurred on the Blue Line when two rail-borne equipment were permitted access to the same segment of track,” Eng wrote, and due to its “size and complexity” relative to different MBTA subway traces.
Set to kick off this week on the Green Line is a “worker ahead flagging” pilot that alerts prepare operators to the presence of employees on the right-of-way.
Eng stated the MBTA decided {that a} majority of the near-miss incidents happened close to Copley station, which “informed our decision to pilot the worker ahead warning system on the Green Line in the central subway.”
If the pilot proves to be efficient, a systemwide rollout shall be thought-about, which is able to take longer than 60 days to implement, Eng stated.
The plan additionally seeks to “ensure unambiguous and explicit communication” between flaggers and dispatchers through the radio “call-on/call-off” course of by reviewing and revising the knowledge that ought to be exchanged throughout these interactions.
The MBTA additionally instantly plans to extend using an enhanced safety degree for some work crews, revise in a single day work procedures; pilot new protocols for observe management and radio communication throughout building diversions; revise protocols for modifications to trace entry; revise check prepare procedures; and consider the dispatcher coaching program.
Longer-term fixes embrace evaluating T practices to the trade benchmark, reviewing and lengthening these pilot packages systemwide, implementing expertise options to “worker ahead” notices, additional coaching, and short- and long-term staffing modifications, an MBTA spokesperson stated.
The plan requires approval from the FTA, which performed a months-long investigation of the MBTA’s subway system final 12 months following repeated security failures there that included a fatality.
“The MBTA will continue to collaborate with the FTA in order to implement the most effective safety procedures for its workforce, and will continue on a short- and long-term plan to improve the safety of the system and its safety culture,” T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”