Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service
Gov. Maura Healey said the Tuesday afternoon derailment on the Green Line is “not attributable to the rail or the track,” and suggested that federal investigators are instead focusing on other factors including the operator as a potential root cause.
A day after a train came off the tracks near Lechmere Station, Healey invoked the extensive work the MBTA conducted during her administration to fix Green Line Extension rails that were installed too narrowly.
“It’s not related to the rail, it’s not related to the track,” Healey told reporters at an unrelated event Wednesday. “Remember, we did all that repair work. When we came in as an administration, we had to redo the Green Line Extension because it wasn’t done correctly the first time. We did that, and that rail is good, okay? So this is not attributable to the rail or the track. The look is at the operator.”
The westbound train derailed just after 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, causing about 50 passengers to evacuate and sending six to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The train came to rest just after a switch that can either direct trains down the tracks leading to the Union Square station or down the tracks leading to the main Green Line branch to the Medford-Tufts station.
The National Transportation Safety Board deployed an investigatory team Wednesday, and the Federal Transit Administration is examining the incident as well. MBTA officials halted train service past North Station – the entire Green Line Extension – and replaced it with buses until midday Thursday to let the investigation and repairs take place.
“We sincerely apologize for this incident and thank the public for their patience while we worked to resume service. Our thoughts continue to be with the riders who were aboard this trolley and those who were injured,” MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said in a statement released alongside an announcement that the Green Line Extension tracks were reopening. “I want to acknowledge the efforts of the MBTA team that safely cleared the incident train, and repaired our track, signal, and power infrastructure, allowing us to resume service today. Know that we share a common goal with the NTSB, [Federal Transit Administration], and [state Department of Public Utilities] and are fully committed to continuously improve and deliver safe and reliable service to all that we serve.”
In her remarks Wednesday, Healey also apologized for the incident.
“What a scary incident for the passengers. I’m really sorry about that. I can imagine the horror, right, with that incident, and I’m really sorry that people were injured,” Healey said. “Look, here’s where we are now. The feds are involved. They come in in the course of any derailment. They’re going to come in, they’re going to do the investigation. We want to work with them as quickly as we can on that.”
A string of safety incidents prompted a blistering investigation by the FTA in 2022, which concluded by identifying deep-rooted problems at the T that required action.
Healey said federal regulators “have been impressed with our team and the strides made by General Manager [Phil] Eng” since then.
“We’re on course to finish those slow zones, clearing up those slow zones … Times are going to improve. People have seen that already. They’ve seen continued improvements with that. We beefed up the workforce. We have more inspectors and operators and the like,” she said. “We continue to be in good communication with the federal authorities on this, but I think they definitely see that Massachusetts in the last 20 months under this administration, under the leadership of GM Eng, we’ve turned a corner.”
