New MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng speaks with reporters outside Park Street station on his first day on the job, April 10, 2023. Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service

Facing a long list of necessary safety, service and reliability improvements, the MBTA will staff up at some of its highest levels.

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng on Thursday announced he appointed four new officials who will be responsible for managing the quality of T stations, agency infrastructure, engineering, and capital planning, operations and safety.

Like Eng, each of the four new major hires previously worked at transportation agencies in New York.

Dennis Varley, a veteran of the Long Island Rail Road, will become the T’s first chief of stations. Sam Zhou, another New Yorker who most recently worked for that state’s Department of Transportation, will take over as the MBTA’s assistant general manager of engineering and capital. Doug Connett, the new chief of infrastructure, joins from a state safety and security consulting firm and also has experience at transit agencies in New York City and Washington, D.C. And Rod Brooks, the MBTA’s new senior advisor for capital, operations and safety, also has sizable experience at LIRR.

Prior to taking the reins at the T, Eng was head of the LIRR from 2018 to 2022.

The batch of hires is the latest significant shake-up at the T since Gov. Maura Healey took office in January. She named Eng, a veteran transportation official who led LIRR for about four years and previously worked for the New York State DOT and the MTA, as the new general manager in March. In April, she replaced three members of the T’s board of directors including its chair and appointed Patrick Lavin to the new position of MassDOT chief safety officer.

Eng said with the new high-ranking employees soon joining, the MBTA is “beginning to restructure our organization.”

“After having the opportunity to observe day-to-day operations, seeing firsthand some of our infrastructure condition needs and pursuant work, speaking with riders, managers and frontline workers, it is apparent that we need reinforcements,” he said.

He added, “These new hires bring decades of public transportation experience and public service to us. They value public service, and in their past roles they have successfully tackled similar challenges to ours.”

Varley’s appointment, in particular, comes a mere two weeks after standpipes – dry pipes meant to help firefighters pump water to higher floors in a building in an emergency – at the Red Line’s Charles/MGH station broke when firefighters tried to use them, forcing crews to carry water up the station’s stairs by hand. The Boston Globe reported the MBTA “can’t say” the last time the station’s standpipes were inspected despite requirements that commercial building owners inspect their standpipes every year.

In an email to reporters announcing the hires, the MBTA said, “The Chief of Stations ensures station safety, security, and cleanliness. The role will also address station concerns raised by riders and employees and ensure in-station customer communications are clear, timely, and informative,” and promised Varley’s role will “help to avert” future incidents like the Charles/MGH standpipe failure and high-profile incidents in the Harvard Square Red Line station where ceiling components fell on riders.

Eng had signaled an intention to add new managerial positions for weeks, especially a stations chief after a series of incidents involving falling debris shone a spotlight on poor conditions at some MBTA stops.

MBTA Board of Directors Chair Tom Glynn reacted to the news by pointing out how many former T officials later worked at transit and transportation agencies in New York.

“It may seem like four people from New York is a lot of people from New York. But historically, we’ve sent four people to New York from Boston, so this is just leveling the playing field. The first one we sent was Babe Ruth, and the second one was Bob Kiley, and the third one was David Gunn, and the fourth one was Rich Davey, and we got nothing back,” Glynn replied after Eng’s presentation. “You have finally leveled the playing field, and we’re appreciative of that.”

The MBTA has struggled in recent months to achieve hiring goals that are linked to ongoing service cuts, long headways and frequent disruptions.

Eng said the agency is attempting to hire “unlike ever before at the T in perhaps the most competitive times” and is “contending with other public-sector agencies and private-sector companies” for talented workers.

Banker & Tradesman staff writer James Sanna contributed to this report.