THE MBTA IS targeting slow zones that would most impact daily commutes as it chugs along on completing track replacements and lifting speed restrictions.
General Manager Phillip Eng touted “forward progress” at an MBTA board meeting on Thursday, saying 66 speed restrictions across the system have been lifted in April and May. That leaves 204 slow zones still in place covering some 27.4 miles, or 20 percent of the T’s rail system. “We have a lot more to do, but we are addressing issues proactively, with urgency,” Eng said.
Blue Line repair work took priority over the last month, in part due to scheduled summertime repair closures of the Sumner Tunnel, which will complicate driving to and from East Boston, Eng said. Speed restrictions, where trains must trundle along more slowly for safety reasons, are still in place along 31 percent of the Blue Line. Service on the line shut down early on several nights in the past month to allow more time for repairs.
In remarks before the recently reshuffled board, Eng said the T has replaced 2,876 feet of rail on the Blue Line since April’s board meeting and lifted nine speed restrictions, including all of those between Bowdoin and Aquarium stations, bringing the line back to about 6-minute headways between trains.
“We want people to know the Blue Line is reliable and safe for them to take,” Eng said.
He said repairs on the Red Line are also moving along. The T has lifted 11 speed restrictions, giving back 2 to 10 minutes in travel time across varying branches and directions. June repairs will target the Red Line from Braintree to JFK/UMass and the Green Line from Tufts to Government Center.
Eng emphasized safety issues in his remarks to the board.
Several incidents prompted him to rethink how the MBTA targets station safety, cleanliness, and the environment, he said. The MBTA will be creating a new “head of stations” position as a “single point of responsibility and accountability,” Eng said.
Though Eng did not mention particular incidents in his report, in two separate incidents this year falling objects at Harvard Station alarmed or struck riders. Meanwhile, the family of a man who died at JFK/UMass station after falling through dilapidated stairs that had been cordoned off has filed a wrongful death suit against the MBTA.
“The T has a history, it has character, and we’re working to restore public confidence and trust,” Eng said. “There’s no denying that we have a lot of work to do to reverse years of underinvestment, to achieve a state of good repair, but we are moving in the right direction.”