FTA Warns MBTA to Make Repairs Safer

Boston, MA (WorkersCompensation.com) – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration wants the Massachusetts Bay Transit Administration to make sure its repair work is done in a way that doesn’t endanger workers.

According to a Sept. 12 letter, the FTA said MBTA has reported 27 total derailments of maintenance vehicles over the past year. Those vehicles are pieces of equipment used by workers repairing tracks. The FTA said the number of derailments is a cause for alarm over worker safety. The number of derailments in one year was more than the number for the previous three years combined.

The FTA said the “unusual amount of track activity,” was partially to blame, but also said in its letter that the transit agency must make sure the work is “performed in a safe manner that does not endanger” its employees. Failure to fix the problem could lead to consequences, the FTA told the transit agency.

According to the FTA the “high frequency” of maintenance vehicle derailments is a sign of the potential for more derailments. As evidence, the FTA cited the shutdown of the Red Line’s Braintree Branch.

On March 22-23, 2024, the Red Line train derailed near Broadway Station. Officials said that the train derailed while using a rail crossover near the station as part of a planned Red Line diversion.

General Manager Phil Eng, in a talk to the MBTA board of directors in late March, said the problem was caused by a small part in the track switch failing. The part, installed in the 1960s, he said, connected to the lever system and caused a throw rod to fall out of place which caused the switch to fail. If the larger pin had been installed from above, instead of below, he said, it would not have fallen. Since then, the MBTA has implemented a new standard to create switch redundancy.

"We are requiring that all of these pins be inserted and installed from above. That allows us redundancy in the design and operation of this switch," said Eng.

“FTA fully expects that the MBTA will take any and all measures needed to ensure the safety of their employees and the operations of maintenance vehicles. Failure to do so may result in further FTA actions,” the letter from Joe DeLorenzo, chief safety officer at the FTA, said.

In response, Eng said there have been no injuries during the recent track repair work. Speaking again to the MBTA board of directors in September, Eng said the risks of not moving forward with the track improvement program exceed the risks of continuing the work. Delaying track repairs, he said, could lead to derailments of subway cars with passengers in the, an unacceptable alternative.

Safety, Eng said, is the MBTA’s “highest priority.”

Eng said the maintenance equipment derailments the MBTA is referring to could be something as small as a wheel on a piece of equipment coming off of a track. Additionally, he said in a letter to the FTA shared with the Boston Globe, the derailments “have resulted in no injuries and only one instance of minor property damage.” Of the derailments, 17 have involved pieces of equipment called Gradalls that can lift heavy objects, pull rail, put ties in and more.

In the letter, Eng said that while the MBTA strives for no derailments, the potential for one to occur is always a possibility and that the MBTA has measure in place to “ensure that on-rail maintenance vehicles’ moves are controlled and at slow speed and are performed in a manner that protects employee safety.”

Officials said subway car derailments have dropped since 2019 when there were 21. There were two passenger subway derailments in both 2023 and 2024. The FTA is concerned with maintenance vehicle derailments which according to the FTA have increased from five in 2021 to 25 in 2024. Most of those derailments, officials said, occur during diversions.

“The increase in derailments during diversions can primarily be attributed to the increase in the frequency and intensity of the use of maintenance/construction vehicles during diversion work,” the MBTA said in a report.

However, officials with the MBTA said the rate of derailments per 10,000 hours of maintenance work has actually decreased fivefold over the past year. The improvement projects on the line have also resulted in reduced speed restrictions, improved travel times and more than 35 miles of track being replaced, the MBTA said.

Still, the MBTA told the federal agency that it was taking precautions to build on its safety measures, including buying 10 custom-built rail carts with suspension,” and reviewing options for “safe and productive rail pulling,” the transit company said. The organization would also be establishing a “Derailments Working Group” to analyze the root cause of the derailments and encourage a safer culture within the MBTA.

The T is “absolutely safer now,” Eng told the Boston Globe.

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