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Never mind all the new trains: The T needs to do better keeping its existing trains running safely, panel concludes
By adamg on Mon, 12/09/2019 - 10:29am
Even as state officials keep boasting of $8 billion in upcoming new trains and tracks and stuff, the T is continuing to suffer serious safety and other problems because of inadequate maintenance of the trains and facilities it already has, caused in large part by ineffective policy setting by constantly changing leadership, according to a report by a panel formed to investigate T safety issues.
In general, the [panel] found that the T’s approach to safety is questionable, which results in safety culture concerns. In almost every area we examined, deficiencies in policies, application of safety standards or industry best practices, and accountability were apparent.
State officials convened the safety review panel, composed of former federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Federal Transit Administration administrator and a former president of New York City Transit, this past June, after a series of incidents on the T system, in particular a Red Line derailment at JFK/UMass that disrupted service on the line for weeks. The T finally concluded the derailment was caused when an old axle on one car snapped.
The panel concluded a key part of the problem is leadership - the T has had nine general managers over the past nine years and that while the T has brought on board "many new executives" to manage an aggressive capital plan that includes completely replacing the superannuated Red and Orange Line fleets, " little if any time has been invested to help them onboard, assimilate into the agency’s mission, or to understand the agency’s safety practices."
The panel contrasted what's going on with the T's subway lines and its commuter-rail system, which is run by a private company, Keolis:
It is noteworthy to mention that the commuter rail service is performing well and does not face many of the challenges that were identified on the transit side of the house. The Panel attributes this higher level of performance to the structure provided by [federa[] regulations, which are clearly defined and have fiscal consequences if not complied with.
The panel details some of the problems that frequent turnover at the top has caused:
Critical [preventative maintenance and inspections] are not taking place as required. This creates a serious issue that requires immediate attention and this information has already been shared with MBTA leadership. Over the years, due to shortage of and/or inexperienced leadership, competing priorities and fiscal controls, operational managers have had difficulty identifying what maintenance and inspections need to be done, or have been dropped due to fiscal pressures or lack of staffing. Furthermore, there is little, or in many cases, no data to support what maintenance and inspections are required, or what has been accomplished. In other instances, procedures are well documented and available, but are not enforced by local supervision. It also does not appear that sufficient condition assessments have been conducted on many system assets that may drive a higher level of preventive maintenance actions. This will require leadership’s urgent attention to identify what inspections and maintenance must take place, at what intervals, and establish performance indicators that show progress against stated goals.
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Comments
This creates a serious issue
This creates a serious issue that requires immediate attention and this information has already been shared with MBTA leadership.
I dont suppose this information was shared with Baker? If so, will he continue his feckless indifference to actual working people in MA and pass it off as not his responsibility?
As an aside... Baker, want to reduce traffic? Fix the T to make it run on time without disruptions. More people will take it instead of driving if the T is reliable.
Began a long time back -- e.g. 9 years
according to the report
although two of the 9 to be fair was the same person [Steve Poftak] reappearing with a different title in-front such i.e. Acting GM before later becoming GM with two intervening persons
Wonder who was governor when that sequence of Musical GMs began 9 or 10 years ago?*1
Seems to me that a lot of the Mismanagement began when Deval was the Governor -- perhaps it could even be associated with the longest running Deval appointed GM? --- that would be the one whom Charlie fired [technically she resigned] almost right after he took office and just after the record-breaking February Snowpocalypse
*1 from Wikipedia
Recent GMs
Going back further
When Grabauskas came to the T from the Registry, I had high hopes, since he did a lot of good things there, but without the resources, he had no chance. Some griped that he drove everywhere, but his successor Rich Davey rode the T ever since high school, and he had the same results. Essentially everyone has either been unsuited for the job (Ramirez) or found out that it's one of the worst jobs around.
I'm not too old, but I'm old enough to have seen several reports noting the sad state of the T. It would have been nice if Patrick, Romney, or now Baker did something with these reports other than sounding like, well, commenters on the internet griping about how bad things are. The lot of them are paid to get results, and though I do note that the buck ultimately stops with the GM of the T, the Governor (and General Court) has to give the GM the resources.
Thank you
This sums up the GM position in a nutshell. I'll re-echo what I said years ago about Dr Scott. She was the best qualified person for the job. (next to Davey) She had actual transit experience running a system, and it wasn't a nepotism or political hire. Yeah you could argue that she was, but on paper, Dr Scott was a well qualified person for the job with real world experience. Something that hadn't been seen in a while.
But even she knew the T was broken beyond what she could do as a GM. I also think this is why she walked out, she probably had enough by that point and being baker's punching bag was the final straw.
Also, thank you for not re-echoing the anti-patrick crap. I have no love of Patrick, but it didn't start with Patrick or Romney or Weld or Dukakis..
Its just a can that has been kicked down the road for decades. This is the end result. I'm not surprised at this findings at all. We've known T has been broken for years, its nice to know safety is also broken at the T.
It isn't just the Governor
The Great and Pathetic Court holds the purse strings, not the governor.
When you have jackasses like Stanley Badtasteinmates whining fact-free stupidity about some fictitious scenario where westmass even close to subsidizing Boston (if only!) and many other suburbanites who can't possibly set foot in Boston outside the capitol grounds or they would dissolve immediately, you get the bullshit we see now.
The same jerkwads fucked over the UMass system so badly that Bulger had to take it off line from the state budget to save it.
The report says that frequent
The report says that frequent turnover in senior leadership is the problem. Your own list shows the majority of the last 9 MBTA GMs were appointed by Baker and not a single one of them lasted most than a single year, showing that turnover in senior leadership has been far more pronounced under Baker than under his predecessors, and it could very well be the only consistent feature of his transit policy...
...but still you need to find a way to say it's Deval's fault?
When does Baker become responsible for at least some of the problems that have happened since he got to office? 2020? 2030 maybe?
Make Gonneville the MassDOT Secretary
That would run in line with most of their recommendations. Recommendation #1. A top tier transportation leader with decades of transit and safety experience. Recommendation #2 A plan that keeps the current GM in place Recommendation #3 A setup where both individuals can hit the ground running tomorrow
Or better yet. How about Carolyn Flowers?
She alongside LaHood and Bianco have gotten a 6-month overview of our crumbling system. Gonneville is a safe bet but works well in his current position. Carolyn Flowers brings a ton of experience regarding safety AND transit equity. And what poetic justice if Pollack is replaced with a black woman.
Teflon Charlie strikes again
Yet he's "the most admired governor in the USA" or some such nonsense. WTF?
Blame game
It's all Beverly Scott's fault. Charlie never does anything wrong.
Unless new leadership
Unless new leadership specifically changed the inspection requirements and procedures, why would the staff not just continue to do what they have been doing? The T has been operating for many years. I would expect there to be long-established standard schedules and procedures for inspections and maintenance.
B/C Baker's policies led to
B/C Baker's policies led to vast staffing cuts, esp. to experienced maintenance staff. But I expect the goal when he took was to starve the beast and ultimately win public support to fully privatise the T.
Citation
Can you put some numbers on that from a reliable source. Don't know about staffing - but I do know that the budget has skyrocketed over the past 20 years - so the money is definitely there. The question is - did they use it to hire more heads or just let a bunch of people go and pay everybody a boatload more money.
Pensions and health insurance?
How much of the increased budget went to pensions and health insurance? Serious question as I have no idea, but most employers cut back on those items in the last couple of decades.
ahem
Great to ask for a citation, but I can shed some light about this.
I worked for an outsourced T contractor 2 years ago. (I'm coming public about this now because I was tied to a NDA that just ended :-) ).
I can tell you that while everyone was taught safety (and it was "per the T" as much of the documentation came from them), it wasn't followed. And a lot of it had to do with management, and this is an outsourced company, not the MBTA. While we had MBTA employees on site who oversaw our operation and made us follow stuff, its really up to our management to make sure it happens. And it wasn't.
I tell people about this place (I have stories) but I sum it up to one simple thing:
You can't take someone who was making 35/hr at one job and had that same job for 15 or 20 years, then say "you're done" and replace them with contractor making 11/hr with 2 weeks of training and expect everything to go as instructed and as well.
It never did. I have many examples of what happened.. if I told you the agency and what we did, you'd be terribly upset at the sloppy mistakes.
While we argue about 'bloated salaries' remember one thing, knowledge often is something you can't put a price tag on. Especially if you are good at your job. Sometimes cheaper, ISNT better.
I saw this for my own eyes....
I can also tell you that I know some people that work at other outsourced operations for the T and have similar stories.
needed to
commission this study and a few dozen other panels to study the feasibility of forming a panel to commission the study of another commission. All to come to conclusions anyone who rides the T could scribble down on a (very large) napkin in about 20 minutes. This is always how it goes. Lots of hemming and hawing and studies and focus groups and by the time they reach conclusions everyone already knew about more of the system is in disrepair, crumbling, and on fire. 'Murican' freedom at its finest. This has all been a ploy to privatize the T by an onslaught of Republican governors over the years (one will notice only Dukakis and Patrick EVER put any serious investment into the T in the past 40 years), at the expense of the working class and our rapidly declining environment. Somehow we keep voting for these mouth breathers. So cool.
You need a Republican Legislature
Marco wrote:
needed to
By Marco on Tue, 12/10/2019 - 10:59am.
There is one glaring problem with the quote - this is Massachusetts
According to our Constitution:
In order for Marco's analysis to be accurate -- there needs to be both a Republican Governor and a Republican Legislature -- or at least enough Republicans and some Democrats to enact the Governors Budget -- that has not happened for quite a while -- i.e. before there was a "T" as a State Authority* 1,2,3,4
At the very least -- the Republican Governor would have to be able to Sustain a Veto of the T-related spending which the Legislature had enacted -- so the at least one of the Chambers of the Legislature would need to be fairly Republican -- also something which has not happened in quite a while as the Democrats typically have had a "Super Majority" in both houses for quite a while
Hence -- Marco should be condemning the Democrats who his friends have consistently and persistently elected and who have been writing and enacting the budget for probably most of his lifetime doing the "Dirty Work on the T Budget" of which he is accusing Charley Baker.
Note - Marco should also be aware of the fact that the DOT is headed by a "real-dyed-in-the wool Greeny" in the person of Stephanie Pollack*5 -- I doubt that she would stay on if the Governor's policy was not within her "ballpark"
The rest of what he posted is just Class Warfare Rhetoric with no underlying logic - I suggest he take up residence in China [except Hong Kong where the people value Liberty]
Refs [Wikipedia]:
*1 Last Republican controlled Massachusetts House of Reps
under the gavel of Charles Gibbons as Speaker 1953–1954
Previous to him
Christian Herter 1939–1942 Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives
Rudolph King 1943–1944 Resigned to run become Registrar of Motor Vehicles
Frederick Willis 1945–1948
*2 Last Republican controlled Senate
with Senate President
84th Richard I. Furbush 1951-1956
85th Newland H. Holmes 1957-1958
*3 Last Republican Governor with at least one Chamber having a Republican Majority
Christian Herter 59th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 8, 1953 – January 3, 1957 -- chose to not run for reelection in 1956
he had a Republican House and a Senate
or
Leverett A. Saltonstall who served three two-year terms as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts [January 5, 1939 – January 4, 1945] with a Republican House and a Republican Senate
77th Joseph R. Cotton 1939-1940
78th Angier L. Goodwin 1941
79th Jarvis Hunt 1942-1944
80th Arthur W. Coolidge 1945-1946
4* MBTA is established
*5
from her Linked-in
before she was CEO & Secretary of DOT
Uhhhh
I wouldn't really look to party affiliation to tell you much about political leanings pre-1960s. You might want to look into that whole "Southern Strategy" thing before you start bragging about Republicans of yesteryear - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
Leaders with No Transportation Background
The people who fill director and VP roles at the MBTA come from private business. Anyone they try to attract from MTA or WMATA winds up quitting in disgust. One guy only lasted a couple months because his director would not allow him to make any improvements. At the MBTA there is a general lack of understanding of how the overall system works and no will or interest to improve. Because compensation is not linked to agency performance.
"The commuter rail is performing well"
Uh, what?
Isn't there a train delay story here every other day?
Needham anecdotal info
Needham line seems pretty reliable over the last six+ months, no?
I think the T proper (orange, red, blue) lines are where the bulk of the issues are these days.
From a safety perspective, yes
Considering the amount of track used by the commuter rail, they are doing well in preventing safety problems. Sure, there will be the occasional strike of a person (not to diminish the horror of that, and it does happen far too often, but Keolis has little control over avoiding that) but derailments are less of an issue. That locomotives and passenger cars have issues is why the commuter rail gets delayed (along with the occasional interference by the other rail companies who own some of the track,) not safety issues.
Little choice?
If you live in a vacuum where trespassers cross the tracks out of nowhere like some video game maybe. But in fact keeping people off the tracks is a detail of infrastructure. Better fencing, and automated video surveillance is needed. That costs money and Keolis doesn't even want to pay employees.
But who is responsible?
In looking at safety, there is only so much a railroad can do. Even with fencing, there are limits. Take a level crossing. There's nothing to prevent someone from starting across the crossing, then turning up the tracks. And we are not even factoring those who intend to get hit by trains. Anyone can walk by the barrier, and there's nothing the engineer or anyone connected to a video system can do.
Now, if crossing barriers are broken, that's a safety issue. It looks like Keolis does a good job with the ones they maintain, per the report.
At Grade crossings are infrastructure
Infrastructure can be changed, but not by privatization. And even if you can't keep them out, you can invest in systems to detect them faster.
Do tell
Please, give me examples of grade crossings there people cannot stroll on to the track.
That isn't what i said. I am
That isn't what i said. I am sorry you were unable to infer that I meant build infrastructure that would remove the crossing from the street (above or below). Very expensive I know. There is definitely technology that would allow Keolis to know immediately that someone was on the tracks.
You said
There was an inference that railroad are responsible for trespassers on their property. That is in fact an impossible feat. To give another example, what about people who stroll onto the rigt of way from stations. I've seen several videos of people almost getting hit by the Acela at Canton Junction. Any way to secure that?
At the end of the day, Keolis uses FRA best practices (with one exception noted in the report.) The MBTA writes the answers to the questions on a blackboard when bus operators are taking their safety exams. The end result is in the pudding.
Containment is not actually
Containment is not actually impossible. Expensive perhaps. The fencing that does exist is not new or extensive at least for the commuter rail. It seems that you have low expectations of Keolis.
I have a question for you
What is your problem?
Seriously, why is it that you get some sort of sadistic pleasure in trolling me and a few other people here (but seemingly mainly me?) Look at what you've written today. I noted that Keolis safety record is on par with most railroads in America, while the MBTA seems to be safety adverse. But again, that's not just my opinion. It's the opinion of the experts that studied the T and issued the report in question, which included experts in the field. But no, you key in on the concept that yes, people trespass on the tracks and get hit by trains from time to time and decide "hey, I'm going to fuck with Waquiot today," because that's what brings you the sick joy you love.
Meanwhile, you provide nothing that shows that what Keolis does is any different than what Amtrak, the big seven class 1 railroads, or any commuter rail provider in North America does. You pie in the sky that Keolis and the T can somehow build big, beautiful walls to keep people out. And who's going to pay for these walls? Or who is going to pay the millions to elevate or bury every foot of track the MBTA uses for commuter rail service?
You are adding nothing to the conversation. You are trolling, as usual. That's what you are, a fucking troll.
stop whining.
It is mild criticism. I acknowledged repeatedly that it would be expensive. And I don't need to provide any links or data because you wouldn't bother to read them. You insist that Keolis is pretty good, but how would you know? 3 paragraphs and cursing but no facts. let go of all that projecting, at least use adult words.
Mild criticism my ass
You spent the whole day spinning BS without providing anything. You added nothing to the conversation.
Adam wrote years ago that conversations here should be like conversations in real life. I like to think that I try to be civil, but interacting with you is like interacting with a 3 year old, only a 3 year old doesn't know better. I would argue that you are sealioning, which is your M.O.
From now on, when you reply to something I write with some BS, I will reply "that's the smartest thing I've ever read from you." That will not be a compliment.
I don't need to provide
I don't need to provide anything on this topic because I believe that your arguments are wrong as presented. You haven't provided any supporting data (as usual). I don't see anything uncivil in my comments. My argument is very general. The lack of investment in sufficient fencing is observable. At grade crossing can't be fenced, and so should be removed. It is silly to think that any private corporation would pay for that, but it doesn't mean it is impossible. The technology that would allow Keolis to detect people on the tracks is not that expensive. services could respond, and far away trains could be stopped. you need to look up sealioning again. You have repeatedly asked for evidence, and I pointed out the hypocrisy. I am perfectly willing to let the disagreement be decided by the facts in evidence. I am not forcing you to respond. Lying gets under my skin, despite the fact that your dishonest comment are in black in white. I am just disagreeing with you, I have restated the same argument over and over.
Cubic
The safety report is masking bigger, more depressing news. The new fare collection system, already way behind schedule, has been pushed back to 2024. (So, 2026 in earth time.) That means we have another 4-6 years with the crappy old fare collection system which isn't working correctly and was never fully deployed. (Still waiting for the conductors to have portable charliecard readers...)
They announced the pricetag for the new system will be close to $1 billion. They collect $700 million a year in fares. So to recap: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will pay at least 1-2 years worth of the ENTIRE fare revenue just to be able to collect fares. Wut?
This is why the T should be free. End this stupidity. MBTA riders are effectively giving their fares to a company in San Diego who is so thankful they are arriving 4 years late.
And yes, this is the fault of the Mr. Fixit Governor who will be out of office by the time any of this is deployed. Heck of a job.
Free makes sense
It seems crazy but fare collection is expensive. It would be much cheaper to run the system without it. And if the burden goes to cars and drivers, pollution would be greatly reduced.
I used to be opposed to a "free T"
But the more I see how much of the fares only go towards fare collection it makes it clear it's huge waste. Even making the busses free would simplify fare collection, greatly speed up boarding, help lower income citizens, and be environmentally sound.
Start with busses. If that goes well, free the subways. Charge fares for rush hour commuter rail service but off-peak should be no-cost to riders.
If the MBTA trains and buses were free, how would the people who
run the MBTA at large pay for maintenance?
The same way they do now, out
The same way they do now, out of the operating budget. Fares are not the only, or even close to the largest, source of revenue for the MBTA. The money could come from elsewhere.
I've noticed, at least on the
I've noticed, at least on the bus side of the system, more and more busses are running with broken and otherwise disabled fareboxes - so we aren't actually collecting fares ANYWAY. at the rate we're going the hardware is going to continue to fail - I don't see it lasting to 2024, definitely.
Demand tangible results from each upper-level T manager
Say what you will about NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton but COMPSTAT worked well in cleaning up the crime plagued city, holding each individual NYPD precinct Captain responsible for everything that happened under his/her command. Bratton met daily with his Captains and fired or transferred those unable to show results. The new T GM seems sincere. Has he designated a team of upper level managers (equivalent to police Captains) to take "ownership" and responsibility for each major aspect of the T? Are basic management principles adhered to? When there is a disaster on the Red Line like we saw last summer, is the person in charge of the rolling stock and the person who placed signal bungalows too close to the tracks afraid for their jobs? It should be a given that the T make the existing stuff reliable before taking on any more burdens, the real question is that being done presently?
Read the report
Managers can't just shit out "results" on command - any more than you can put on a 20 course banquet for 40 people on what you can buy with your SS check.
Resources matter.
So you never saw the wire huh
They fudged the numbers and we also got stop and frisk .
Your link is not the full report
All that the link is connected to is the 7-page Executive Summary [including front cover and boiler plate stuff] -- actually about 2 pages of relevant material
the internets is too tricky
Note that those links contain links to the full report.
glad to see they didn't hold back on the FMCB themselves.
Maybe accountants shouldn't be in charge of a Transit organization?
T's official link https://www.mbta.com/safetyreport
Here's the link from the T's own page https://www.mbta.com/safetyreport [all 67 pages with much detail and quite a bit of thought by the panel
Hopefully -- the T Leadership and Transport Secretary Polack will read and absorb this
I'd like to see a much streamlined top-level management structure which is representative of the actual operations of the T:
each with a defined set of tasks and defined budget -- effectively operating departments
Put the whole under the Office of the Sec. of Transportation along with all of the other Transportation related government operations such as Massport with an overall coordinating board whose members include representatives from T, Massport, Highways, City of Boston / Cambridge, etc.
We don't have the luxury anymore [if we ever did] to:
Finally -- as a show of dawning intelligence:
missed opportunities
Once again why don't they leverage the woburn anderson lot and infrastructure? this and teh misuse at westwood is just dumb