MBTA mulling nighttime shutdowns to repair slender GLX tracks

The MBTA is contemplating a plan that would repair the slender rails alongside the Inexperienced Line Extension as early as mid-November, T Common Supervisor Phil Eng mentioned Tuesday.

After saying final week that roughly two-thirds of the GLX rails had been constructed too narrowly and wish widening, Eng informed the MBTA Board of Administrators that contractors wish to begin repairs on Nov. 1.

The workforce that constructed the GLX has proposed having crews make repairs between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. for 10 to 14 nights, Eng defined. He famous that the MBTA can be wanting into offering shuttle buses to interchange practice service whereas that work is underway.

“It’s our dedication to guarantee that we deal with this well timed, deal with it correctly, and do it as soon as and for all,” he mentioned.

But Eng additionally emphasised that the T remains to be contemplating the contractors’ proposal, so nothing is about in stone.

“The rationale I wished to share the timelines is I need individuals to know that this isn’t going to be one thing that continues on for months and months, and even longer,” he mentioned. “It’s one thing that may be addressed in a matter of weeks.”

Half of the Union Sq. department and 80% of the Medford department must be regauged and made wider, Eng introduced final week. He acknowledged that the MBTA knew as early as April 2021 that elements of the GLX had been too slender, however mentioned he solely discovered in regards to the points just lately himself.

Whereas the T remains to be wanting into what triggered the problem, Eng urged the rail ties and pre-installed plates — the wood helps beneath the tracks and the metallic plates that anchor them — had been prone to blame. He additionally critiqued earlier T management for failing to conduct an intensive investigation when the problems first got here to mild in 2021.

“Initiatives all the time have points that come up,” he mentioned. “It’s a matter of tackling them while you determine them and tackling them in a well timed method so we don’t find yourself having to do that after service is operating and after the general public is already having fun with that service.”

An MBTA spokesperson confirmed final week that two people with senior roles on the Inexperienced Line Extension undertaking are now not employed by the T, and Eng has since tapped Chief of Capital Program Help Maureen McDonough to function appearing GLX program supervisor. 

“The organizational modifications I made had been as a result of I didn’t consider that the prior workforce and a number of the people that had been nonetheless on that workforce took the suitable motion on the acceptable time,” he defined on the MBTA board assembly. 

Gov. Maura Healey likewise provided a scathing rebuke of former T officers who reportedly failed to deal with gauge considerations earlier than the GLX opened final 12 months.

Talking on WBZ’s “Keller @ Giant” Sunday, she mentioned the blame shouldn’t be on the employees who put in the tracks, however “with senior officers on the T below the prior administration who knew info, didn’t disclose it, and most significantly, didn’t deal with it.”

Regardless of taking intention at her predecessor’s administration, Healey mentioned she has “no info to counsel” that former Gov. Charlie Baker knew in regards to the GLX observe points both.

“That is on administration, who actually, for no matter motive, lacked both the competence or the wherewithal to do what was essential to run the T,” she mentioned. 

Amid the most recent transit troubles, a brand new UMass Amherst/WCVB Ballot discovered that respondents nonetheless used phrases like “unreliable,” “damaged,” and “mess” to explain the MBTA, regardless of enchancment within the company’s public approval.

Talking on “Keller @ Giant,” Healey acknowledged that some stage of skepticism is legitimate, telling host Jon Keller that she additionally finds the established order “unacceptable.”

“And that’s why every single day, I’m going to convey it by way of what we have to do to deal with this,” Healey mentioned. “It’s going to take time, however we completely must guarantee that we’re addressing it.”