The percentage of MBTA subway tracks with speed restrictions is heading in the wrong direction.

In March, T officials said they uncovered some unspecified breakdown in rail repair work, which prompted the acting general manager, Jeffrey Gonneville, to order a systemwide slowdown on the entire subway system to make sure the trains ran at lower speeds and stayed on the tracks.

Gonneville dispatched engineering teams to inspect tracks across the system and slowly the universal slowdown was replaced with a patchwork quilt of speed restrictions across every line – all designed to allow trains to operate safely on defective track. The percent of subway track with speed restrictions hit a peak of 27.8 percent on March 27 and then began slowly trending down through April, May, and June, hitting 22 percent on June 13.

But, since then, the percent of track with slow zone restrictions began inching up again, hitting 23.6 percent on Thursday. It’s hard to understand what’s happening, and T officials have been tight-lipped about what has gone wrong and when the slow zones will disappear.

T officials say slow zones have been slow to disappear in part because of the way they are being addressed.

 “Lifting speed restrictions is a dynamic process,” said T spokeswoman Lisa Battiston. “While the percentage of restricted track will fluctuate as track defects are rectified, General Manager Phillip Eng has directed staff to target the most severe speed restrictions first in order to improve trip times for riders while also accomplishing this critical work. For example, on the Red Line, there were two speed restrictions that were recently improved from 10 mph to 25 mph – while the track is still restricted, trip times are improving.”

That explains why speed restrictions as a percent of subway track might not be declining, but it doesn’t explain why they are increasing. Battiston said some new track defects have been discovered, particularly in the wake of a derailment on the Green Line’s B branch.

The Lechmere Viaduct on the Green Line, across from the Science Museum, may also provide some clues about slow zones. In 2021, as part of an overhaul related to the Green Line extension, the T made extensive repairs to the viaduct. An MBTA tweet on July 16, 2021, also referenced “new tracks on Lechmere Viaduct.”

Fast-forward to June this year and the T, according to agency tweets, began laying 2,700 feet of new track “to lift speed restrictions and enhance safety.” Another tweet in late June said the T “replaced, welded & aligned 3,300+ feet of rail to improve conditions, which will allow us to increase speeds in this area.”

The tweets from 2023 make it sound as if the T was completing work on the viaduct that probably should have been done in 2021. Battiston, in a series of emails, said the work in 2021 was primarily structural and not speed related. She said many of the rail ties were replaced in 2021 but the rail itself was reused.

“When the work was being done in 2021, the rail still had useful life, so it wasn’t fiscally responsible to replace it at the time,” she said.

“The primary objective of the 2021 Lechmere project was to strengthen the structure in order to remove the operational speed restriction that only allowed one train to cross at a time,” she said. “Now there are three condition-based speed restrictions that are planned to be addressed with the replacement of specially formed ties.”

Battiston said two of the speed restrictions were put in place on the viaduct in December 2021 and a third was added in June 2023. Those slow zones are now being addressed, which should reduce the percent of subway track subject to speed restrictions as long as new defects don’t emerge in the meantime. 

BRUCE MOHL

 

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Prepping ballot questions: The Massachusetts Teachers Association appears to be gearing up to push for two new ballot questions – one doing away with the MCAS graduation requirement and the other creating a “debt free college scholarship program.” The teachers union is polling on both issues, and both appear to have strong support, the union’s president says. Read more.

Tapping reserves: The operators or the New England power grid dealt with a transmission outage Wednesday night on a line bringing power in from Canada by tapping electricity from plants held in reserve for just such emergencies. Read more.

OPINION

War on innocence: Defense lawyer James Doyle says two recent decisions written by US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas signal a war on innocence. Read more.

 

FROM AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

The golden dome and cupola atop the Massachusetts State House are decaying and in need of repair. Officials have not committed to a timeframe to restore the landmark. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle vetoes a measure approved by the City Council that is designed to protect the privacy of people seeking to access reproductive care in the city. She said the measure added no protections beyond what are contained in state law. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Mayor Michelle Wu launched a new program designed to close racial disparities in swimming lessons and water safety resources. (Boston Globe)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

The Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to Leqembi, a drug that has shown promise in slowing the advance of Alzheimer’s disease. (NPR)

A proposed bill would let the state take over hospitals that want to shut down essential services. Three acute care hospitals have closed since 2014 despite health officials’ determination that they provided essential services. (GBH)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

President Joe Biden has approved a controversial transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine. (Washington Post)

Watch those emojis – A Canadian court ruled that a “thumbs up” emoji can count as agreement to enter a contract. (New York Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

A nonprofit affordable housing group can purchase and retain its properties, a judge ruled, but may have to pay millions in “exit taxes” as part of the sale. (WBUR)

EDUCATION

Lawmakers are targeting schools that offer legacy admission preferences by proposing a public service tax on those institutions based on the size of university endowment per student. (MassLive)

TRANSPORTATION

The Daily Item traces the problems with the shuttered commuter rail station in Lynn. 

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

To help the Cape address a nitrogen pollution problem, lawmakers are pitching higher tax credits for septic system replacements. (Cape Cod Times)

Heat records are breaking globally, with the past three days likely the hottest in the Earth’s modern history, scientists say. (New York Times)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Massachusetts police officers took more than 2,400 illegal guns off the streets last year, and a large percentage of them were untraceable “ghost guns.” (Salem News)

Prosecutor Mark Lee is back at his post in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office after an independent investigation found he “did nothing improper” regarding a 1992 murder conviction of a man who was later exonerated. (Boston Herald)

A wrongly convicted Boston man is suing Massachusetts for $1 million, having spent more than half of his life incarcerated before the Supreme Judicial Court vacated the conviction. (GBH)