MBTA vows to address safety concerns after recent derailments

General manager says Red Line delays will continue until Labor Day

The T’s response to its inconvenienced customers
A Staco Communications graphic

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added..

MBTA vows to address safety concerns after recent derailments.

In an eerily similar sounding statement, MBTA officials announced earlier this week that they will address the problems that have long dogged the MBTA.

At the same time, the MBTA also opened the door for the possibility that the repairs needed in the wake of the JFK Station Red Line train derailment earlier this month will continue to impact detrimentally Red Line service until at least Labor Day.

JFK station train control equipment destroyed by the recent derailment
A train wreck file photo

In other words, figure on sometime after Labor Day – if not well after it – before the needed repairs are made and some semblance of normal service might then perhaps resume.

And in the meanwhile, the MBTA has yet to determine what was the cause of the JFK derailment.

MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said the cause of the Red Line derailment is still under investigation, but speed, operator error, foul play. and track problems have been ruled out.

In other words, the only remaining cause would appear to be some sort of catastrophic train equipment failure.

Poftak said components of the derailed train are being analyzed for clues and which will take about 60 days to complete.

Facing the jackals of the press
A file photo

Fortunately for MBTA passengers, the actually able forensic investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are the ultimate arbitrators of the official and thus final report.

In the meanwhile, Poftak noted that all trains similar to the one that derailed have passed an emergency ultrasonic inspection, he said.

Needless to say, Governor Baker continues to deflect criticism as best as his surely overworked at this point crisis management team can manage to come up with so as to endeavor to spin this mess.

Third World strap hangers, roof hangers – whatever
Image from via indosurflife.com

In all fairness, however, even Quincy Quarry has to cut the governor some slack as he inherited a transit system that a Third World country would find unacceptable as well as that decades of system deterioration cannot be halted – much less fixed – in less than a decade.

Source: T vows to address safety concerns after derailments

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