The Federal Transit Administration has ordered an “immediate safety measure” at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, affecting all workers who operate or secure idle trains at the agency’s rail stations amid ongoing problems with runaway trains.
FTA Chief Safety Officer Joe DeLorenzo said safety briefings involving hundreds of employees must take place immediately because the federal agency has “determined that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exist such that there is a significant risk of death or injury.” , according to a July 28 letter addressed to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak obtained by the Globe.
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, all workers who operate or secure idle cars must review and discuss the facts surrounding three recent runaway train incidents, including the one at Braintree Station on the Red Line on Monday, according to the letter and be retrained under MBTA procedures.
“FTA requires a safety suspension to prohibit the MBTA from allowing any such worker who has not attended a safety briefing to move rail vehicles in yards or shops,” the letter said.
The T must provide an update to the FTA every 24 hours, starting Monday, on its progress to inform all affected officials. Within five days, T must submit to FTA its train disassembly and assembly procedures, and within 10 days, T must develop and implement a form for documenting the results of vehicle inspections.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said hundreds of employees will need to receive the briefing and it takes about 15 minutes for each employee. The T will conduct the safety briefings on an ongoing basis and expects the agency to “maintain service at existing levels with little disruption,” he said by email.
Pesaturo said the MBTA shares the FTA’s concern about “uncontrolled movements involving idle rail cars.”
“Fully supporting FTA’s continued oversight of safety-related processes and practices, the MBTA is committed to providing the training and tools employees need to create and maintain a culture where safety is a priority,” he said via email.
The MBTA was already ordered by the FTA on June 15 to immediately address the runaway train problem by developing written procedures and training for moving out-of-service trains and a compliance program to ensure rules are followed.
The directive was one of four issued by the FTA as it concludes its months-long safety review of the MBTA that began in mid-April. The federal agency has intervened locally in this way only once before and began investigating the T after a series of safety-related incidents, including the fatal April 10 fatality of a Red Line passenger at Boston’s Broadway station.
Pesaturo said that since the FTA directive, the T has issued new “safety directives, trainings and [policies] for operators in relation to the movement of trains in railway station facilities and carriages.’
Yet early Monday morning, a two-car Red Line train with “reduced braking capacity” exited an MBTA rail station and onto the tracks at Braintree Station when an operator on board lost control, breaking the morning commute. The train eventually stopped about 800 feet north of the station, Pesaturo said at the time. No one was hurt.
The T has reported five runaway train incidents to the FTA in the past year, including Monday’s, according to the federal agency. One of those involving Red Line cars in December resulted in three injuries.
The final report from the FTA is expected in August.
Taylor Dolven can be reached at taylor.dolven@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @taydolven.
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