The MBTA’s new GM is creating a brand new “head of stations” job to supervise operations on the company’s many prepare stops after a collection of mishaps and tools failures on the services.
Phil Eng, only a few months into his job as chief of the beleaguered authority, mentioned the necessity for the function was obvious to him primarily based off of expertise at different rail firms.
“In past agencies I saw where a ‘head of stations’ is a single point of accountability, right? Somebody who is managing a team, obviously we have many stations across the system, but that team will be there to support this person in terms of the environment of our stations, the safety of our stations, and to bring together all the different functional groups that support addressing those in a more timely manner,” he mentioned in remarks Sunday throughout WCVB’s “On the Record.”
Eng’s declaration he would discover somebody to take the reins on the T’s a number of stations comes after one lady was practically struck by a falling ceiling tile whereas leaving an MBTA property and one other injured when a utility field used to detect airborne hazards fell from its suspension moorings onto her.
The lady struck by the utility field mentioned final month she would file a lawsuit in opposition to the T.
Eng, the previous President of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road, mentioned he takes the situation of stations within the system he’s managing personally, and he needs clients to have some extent of contact on the company to air their issues with.
“I look at stations — and I’ve said this in my past roles — it’s almost like my living room, right? If I’m inviting someone into my living room, I want them to feel comfortable, I want them to feel safe, and it has to be a welcoming environment. Particularly if we want riders to come back,” he mentioned.
According to Eng the ‘head of stations’ would report back to him and be liable for the maintenance of all MBTA stations. It’s no small job, he acknowledged, however one which must be accomplished proper and shortly.
“There is no reason we can’t take care of some of these more immediate needs in terms of corrective repairs, cleanliness and giving that, again, inviting experience,” he mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”