Federal Transit Administration issues five directives to Massachusetts agency over ‘compromised’ safety culture

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is cracking down on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) after a failed inspection concluded its over-focus on building new capital projects at the expense of existing infrastructure has “compromised a culture of safety at the agency.”

A report issued Wednesday calls on the Bay State transportation agency to better manage operations, start prioritizing maintenance, improve safety and communication, and update procedures and operational norms.

“Transit riders shouldn’t have to question whether they will get to their destinations safely,” said Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator of the FTA in a statement. “Safety is FTA’s top priority, and our role is to hold transit agencies and state safety oversight agencies accountable on behalf of transit riders and workers.”

According to the report, the MBTA from January 2019 to April 2022 experienced notably more safety incidents than its peer transit organizations, “particularly on its heavy rail mode, and a higher rate of derailments on both heavy and light rail modes,” reads the report. There was also a documented uptick in the severity of incidents “from minor property damage, brief service disruptions, and minor injuries in 2019 and 2020, to more significant property damage, extended service disruptions and more serious passenger injuries requiring hospitalization in 2021.”

The latest action adds to four earlier directives issued by the federal transit agency to the MBTA in June—to improve track access and maintenance, secure disabled trains, tighten up the operations control center, and update certifications—crafted to “address the pattern of safety incidents and interim safety findings concerning deferred track maintenance, uncontrolled train movements, management of the Operations Control Center, and lapsed training certifications of safety-sensitive rail personnel at the MBTA,” reads an information sheet from the FTA. It comes during a month-long repair shutdown of the subway’s Orange Line, which has particularly impacted commuters in Boston’s Chinatown district. The organization is updating lines and replacing its current fleet, which was built in 1980 and never received a mid-life overhaul.

In sharp terms, the FTA’s report highlights “chronic fatigue for key positions in the agency, lack of resources for training and supervision, and leadership priorities that emphasize meeting capital project demands above passenger operations, preventive maintenance and even safety.” This imbalance is “at the center of many of MBTA’s safety challenges” because while the agency is building new infrastructure, “its aging assets and infrastructure continue to deteriorate and fail.”

And although the MBTA’s capital budget has increased fourfold over the last four years, and the organization’s board of directors transferred another $500 million to the existing $2 billion capital program last year, the organization doesn’t have enough skilled workers to keep up with everything.

“Existing staffing levels and capabilities do not provide adequate safety oversight for the design, construction, and testing of new capital projects and do not support widespread safety certification of these projects, which is an industry standard practice,” the report continues. “MBTA also has experienced a series of construction safety events due to the lack of oversight of worksites.”

To address these issues, the report outlines another four directives requiring the MBTA to address personnel problems, deficient and inadequate operating conditions, poor policies, and ineffective procedures and training norms. A separate directive issued to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the umbrella organization for the MBTA, requires that administrators improve oversight of the Boston-based transit agency. 

“At this critical juncture, FTA is requiring the MBTA to conduct a workforce analysis to determine the level of operations, maintenance, and capital project delivery that its workforce can sustain, particularly in key technical, supervisory and engineering positions,” the report says. “The chronic lack of personnel resources to address requirements for operations, maintenance and capital projects results in a situation where the organization is overwhelmed, there is chronic fatigue in key positions in the agency, there is a lack of support for training and supervision, and limited professional development is available for the MBTA’s workforce.”