An electrical fire on an MBTA Orange Line train burns on a bridge over the Mystic River on July 21, 2022. Photo courtesy of WBZ-TV and State House News Service
A major business- and real estate-backed group is calling for a special official to take charge of the MBTA’s safety efforts.
A Better City, which advocates for transportation and city planning policies, said Thursday that Gov. Charlie Baker should name a safety expert and a team of helpers who would report directly to him and take charge of implementing federal inspectors safety directives at the MBTA. The new officials would not replace existing MBTA management or the existing MTBA board of directors but would work with them.
Derailments and safety violations at the MBTA have repeatedly made headlines and this year drew the attention of the Federal Transit Administration, which in June ordered safety upgrades after finding “continuous safety violations and a failure to take urgent, corrective actions.”
“Today’s fire on the Orange Line is alarming, but unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. The recent series of safety and operational events at the MBTA continue to undermine confidence in the region’s public transit system and severely disrupted service,” A Better City CEO Rick Dimino said in a statement. “The T is in crisis caused by deep rooted structural and systemic safety problems that require strong and decisive action from Governor Baker and the entire MBTA leadership.”
The T’s current combination of safety problems, aging equipment and ridership struggles is a “far worse” set of problems than the succession of storms in 2015 that prompted Gov. Charlie Baker to push through major changes at the agency, Dimino said, and demands a commensurate response.
“Greater Boston cannot function without a safe, reliable, and properly funded MBTA,” Dimino added. “Providing public transit service that meets these criteria starts today, with action from Governor Baker, and it will require sustained efforts from the next administration. This should be a priority issue for all candidates for governor and every state government position.”
Business leaders have been pleading for aggressive action from Baker, state legislators and MBTA officials to address safety problems at the T. Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney said in June that the T was “failing” employers and threatening Boston’s economy.
In response to an inquiry from Banker & Tradesman, gubernatorial front-runner Maura Healey’s campaign issued a statement from the candidate saying “the current situation is outrageous and unacceptable.”
“I can only imagine how terrifying of an experience it was for the riders on the Orange Line train this morning, and for every member of our communities who relies on the MBTA. They deserve a public transportation system that is safe, reliable and accessible. We need action — right now, and for the long term,” Healey said in the statement.
The campaign did not respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification on what specific actions Healey was calling for.
Metal Strip Broke Loose, Starting Fire
Thursday morning’s dramatic fire on an Orange Line train carrying 200 people over the Mystic River, the latest in a series of mishaps, was triggered by a metal sill that came loose from the lower part of the train and contacted the third rail, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Thursday afternoon.
During a press conference at Wellington Station in Medford, Poftak described the sill as one foot by six foot and compared the object, which is supposed to be riveted to the train, to siding that “doesn’t have any structural role, but it covers up a portion of the vehicle almost … akin to like aluminum siding at your house.”
“Obviously a very frightening event and not the service that the MBTA wants to provide, and it is these types of incidents that we are working to prevent and avoid every day,” Poftak said. “I want to express my apology to our customers who experienced that today.”
Inspectors were dispatched Thursday morning to examine sills on other Orange Line cars, and Poftak said, “I’ve not received any word that there was any other issue found.”
As the fire was occurring, the southbound train was halted on a bridge above the Mystic River, and a call went in to cut power to the train, which Poftak said occurred in under two minutes, sparing riders evacuating the train from jumping onto tracks with a live third rail.
While many riders were evacuated and stepped off the train onto the tracks, Poftak said “there were a number of people who self-evacuated through several windows on the train.” He said four windows were removed.
“Some folks made the decision to self-evacuate, which I understand, but we also did have an evacuation through the rear of the train,” he said.
One rider on the train told WBZ radio early Thursday that “chaos erupted” with “humans kicking into survival mode” after smelling something burning.
No injuries were reported.
Incident Highlights New Train Struggles
The incident involved one an Orange Line train built in 1980, Poftak said, highlighting delays in getting replacement cars into service thanks to manufacturing defects and production line delays
The T’s contract with Chinese manufacturer CRRC called for a complete fleet of new Orange Line cars to be delivered by January 2022 and a complete fleet of new Red Line cars delivered by September 2023, but a delay officials announced during the pandemic pushed those target dates back to April 2023 for the Orange Line and September 2024 for the Red Line.
“As soon as we have an adequate supply of new vehicles ready to go, we’ll be replacing all of the trains on both the Orange Line and the Red Line,” he said.
Poftak was also asked about reducing MBTA fares, which supporters say would help low-income people and boost ridership. Skeptics worry less fare revenue means less money to put toward operations and improvements.
“No, we have not given any consideration to any kind of fare reduction,” he said. “I think we’re in a situation where we’re trying to, you know, right now we’re talking about additional resources to invest in things like safety and service. So I don’t think we’d be in a position to do that.”
