Count House Speaker Robert DeLeo among those who are questioning plans for new services and projects at the troubled MBTA.
WBZ-TV on Sunday aired the remainder of an interview with DeLeo about the MBTA’s dismal performance in the face of record-setting snow levels and prolonged cold temperatures, an interview that ironically was pre-empted by Feb. 15 storm coverage.
"When you have stories in terms of maybe things, new projects shall we say, that are being put online to get done, and we’re not operating as we should be right now in terms of the basic service then we’ve got some things that we have to take a look at and study," DeLeo told "Keller at Large" host Jon Keller.
After first undergoing management reforms and then receiving an infusion of cash from the Legislature, the MBTA and other state and regional transportation agencies have been a primary focus of legislative attention on Beacon Hill in recent years.
Supporters of the reform and revenue measures claimed they would squeeze hundreds of millions in savings out of the bureaucracy while investing fresh dollars into it to pay for better maintenance and new equipment as well as service expansions and improvements. But now there are new calls for both additional reforms and revenues and policymakers are being dragged back into the debate.
DeLeo said the snowstorms had taught policymakers that "the MBTA apparently needs a little more work than we had anticipated" and suggested a "deeper look" was in order and that he’d had talks about it with Gov. Charlie Baker and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg.
On Friday, a week after DeLeo’s interview, Baker assigned former Boston Redevelopment Authority official Paul Barrett to lead a 30-day probe into the MBTA and its failures.
DeLeo didn’t identify MBTA projects that he said "seem to be very questionable" but said he’s read about some he’d put in that category.
The MBTA "just didn’t seem prepared" to deal with harsh winter weather, DeLeo said, adding that he used the transit system to avoid traffic snarls during recent bad weather – DeLeo took the Green Line to an evening event and a spokesman said he made it there on time.
DeLeo also commented on the idea of placing the MBTA under the oversight of an appointed receiver to replace its board of directors.
"I don’t think we’re quite at that point yet. Hopefully we won’t get to that point," DeLeo said.
A week after the last major storm, the MBTA on Sunday restored service along Red Line to Braintree and the Green Line B branch to Boston College.
The MBTA commuter rail system, run by the private company Keolis, told customers Sunday night it would continue on its "recovery schedule," which means riders should expect delays and cancellations all week due to signal, switch and mechanical issues with its locomotives.
"Keolis would like to thank passengers for their patience and to remind them that things will not immediately change overnight. Getting the system back up and running is Keolis’ highest priority, but will not happen quickly," the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) reported Sunday night in a recovery update.
According to MassDOT, Keolis over the weekend removed snow from tracks and switches north of North Station and from its maintenance facilities north and south of Boston to make it easier to move equipment. At an engine maintenance facility in Somerville, workers removed 20 acres of snow that was 6 feet deep, MassDOT reported, and washed the undersides of locomotives to remove snow.
Keolis usually has 65 locomotives ready on weekdays, but currently has 46, MassDOT said.
The snowstorms, which began in late January, led to emergency declarations and state officials are pursuing federal relief funds.
Baker was in Washington D.C. this weekend for National Governors Association meetings and remained there on Monday, with governors planning to meet in the morning with President Barack Obama.
Obama dined with governors Sunday night at the White House, with a menu that included goat cheese tart, shrimp a la plancha, braised beef short ribs, and milk chocolate Chantilly.
According to the media pool report, Obama mentioned the weather that had hit New England in recent weeks.
"We’ve been thinking about you governors from New England and everything that your citizens have been through this winter," Obama said. "I want to make sure we’re working with each other to get what you need."
Obama told the governors about a snowstorm that struck Washington in 1987 when President Ronald Reagan was sitting down to dinner with governors at a similar event and said Reagan joked about whether enough cots were available so the governors could stay overnight.
"It looks like the weather has cleared up enough that there will not be a pajama party in the Blue Room tonight," Obama said Sunday night.
Rep. Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, said federal officials weighing the state’s relief request will consider how much of the emergency was created by the weather and how much was created by "failure to maintain the train fleet."
"There’ll be more money," Lynch told WCVB’s "On the Record" on Sunday.
Lynch said fuel efficient cars have cut into the government’s gas tax collections and said "we’re going to have to perhaps increase the gas tax." He said there was a "mixed" appetite for that in Congress and predicted a bridge collapse might focus attention on infrastructure.
