BOSTON — The Federal Transportation Administration on Friday ordered ‘an immediate safety standdown” for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers dealing with out-of-service trains in the wake of three recent runaway-train incidents, the latest of which happened last week.
The Boston Globe reports the order, effective at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, requires worker operating or securing out-of-service trans to review and discuss facts related to the runaway incidents and be retrained on MBTA procedures.
In a letter to MBTA general manager Steve Poftak obtained by the Globe, FTA chief safety officer Joe DeLorenzo were required immediately because the agency has “determined that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exist such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury.” No worker can move any rail equipment in yards or shops without attending a safety briefing. The agency must provide updates to the FTA every 24 hours on its progress in briefing employees as of today (Monday, Aug. 1), submit procedures for dealing with assembling and taking apart trains within five days, and develop and begin using a form to document results of inspections within 10 days.
The latest move comes in the wake of a special directive issued to the MBTA by the FTA in June to address its problem with runaway equipment. That was one of just four issues covered by the FTA orders [see “Federal directives order MBTA to address safety issues,” Trains News Wire, June 15, 2022].
In the most recent runaway incident, a Red Line train rolled out of a yard in Braintree, Mass., and onto station tracks on July 25 [see “‘Unintentional’ move of MBTA causes commuter delays,” News Wire, July 26, 2022]. Morning rush-hour delays of up to 30 minutes resulted for a four-hour period.
From local reports, it appears the train was already experiencing diminished braking when it was parked in the yard for repair. The operator was trying to move it to be worked on and with the diminished brakes, it got away from them. The yard is uphill from the station, so it rolled into and through the station.
The issue is that MBTA has policies in place on how to handle this, but the workers aren’t following them… Or management is overriding them.
I am puzzled as to why the operator apparently had no braking ability, Are these cars conventional air brakes or some type of dynamic/spring applied electric like PCC cars? If air, did the operator not have the air pumped up?
What’s the photo location? My best guess is Quincy Center.