BOSTON, June 11, 2019 — Today’s Red Line derailment was the latest in a recent series of derailments and possibly related switch and signal failures on both the Red and Green Lines. These incidents compromise public safety and are setbacks for those who seek a public transit system that is reliable, resilient and responsive to the needs of people throughout Metro Boston. The frequency and impact of these failures is causing a loss of confidence in the T and calls into question whether and how the MBTA and City of Boston are prepared to respond effectively to the immediate disruptive consequences of derailments and other similar events. TransitMatters is calling today for the FMCB to promptly address these issues by undertaking an expedited independent review of MBTA systems and operations and management protocols covering both the causes of these derailments and the approach to managing their immediate mobility impacts. We know that running a large, old and chronically underinvested transit system is a challenging job, but we cannot accept the service failures of the last few weeks as a new normal. These issues require a prompt forensic deep dive, a report to the public, and action for more funding by the legislature to target accelerated repair and modernization of the system.
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Photo: James Fisher