Gov. Baker Says Operator Did Not Follow Protocol During Orange Line Emergency
BOSTON (CBS) - There are new questions about the safety of the MBTA after passengers kicked out windows to escape a smoky Orange Line train Wednesday afternoon.
Governor Charlie Baker says it was more chaotic because of what the operator did but union members say he is a hero and the trains are the real problem.
"The train was starting to leave the station, started to smoke," Baker said. "Under normal protocol the idea at that point is you back it up, alright, and then you announce over the loudspeaker that there's an issue."
The MBTA said an overheated motor was likely responsible for the smoke--but with no announcements over the intercom and no understanding of what was happening, fear set in. Several people were treated for smoke inhalation, and three people were brought to a hospital for evaluation.
The MBTA said the employee locked the doors because the train wasn't fully in the station, and some of the doors would have led to a drop onto the third rail.
James O'Brien, President of the MBTA Carmen's Union says the motorman did "an exceptional job" getting the passengers evacuated.
"We are disturbed that Governor Baker, today, has chosen to publicly blame that operator despite his heroic actions," O'Brien said in a statement. "The Governor's blame is nothing more than an attempt to deflect from the real issue: our MBTA trains are falling apart as a result of decades of neglect and lack of investment."
O'Brien is calling for two employees instead of one on all trains dating back to the 1970's. He says if that lone motorman had help on board, one could have handled the evacuation, allowing the other to focus on mechanics.
The MBTA says the operator is not being disciplined, but he is being re-trained on proper protocols for emergency situations.
Two Boston City Council members are calling for major investments into the aging transit system. Boston City Council President Michelle Wu called the incident "horrifying and frightening and completely unacceptable."
"The trains have not received the investment, the maintenance over time that they needed to," Wu told WBZ-TV's Anna Meiler. "When we have aging infrastructure, incidents like this are bound to happen."
City Councilor Josh Zakim said he was walking down Dartmouth Street around the time of the incident. He told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope that a large capital investment is needed to improve T safety.
"We talk a lot about how we want folks to be able to rely on transit-oriented development, to take the T, to get out of their cars, we want vision zero for pedestrian and cyclist safety," Zakim said. "The best way to do that is to invest more in our transit system, which unfortunately, we've not been seeing."
"We're talking about billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs, and old locomotives that were around well before I was born," he added.
Zakim said that, since he's been on the City Council, he and his colleagues have been calling for greater MBTA investment to no avail--and said the focus should be on making those investments, not on privatization.
"I just think it's very short-sighted to be talking about privatization of T employees when what we really need is investment in the infrastructure and the locomotives and the tracks that are causing these incidents like the one we saw in Back Bay last night," Zakim said.
The MBTA said in response that, as part of a five-year capital investment program approved this year, they're putting $3.7 billion toward projects that will increase safety and reliability.
About one third of that money will go toward new trains and buses, including 152 new Orange Line cars. The first cars are scheduled to be delivered in 2018, but the MBTA Carmen's union said that process is six months behind schedule.
One MBTA Carmen's Union representative told WBZ-TV that some of the current Orange Line cars were "like Flintstone cars"--they have rust holes you can see through to the outside, and mechanics do a lot of improvising and patching because parts for the trains are no longer available.
Gov. Baker told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones the T may have training issues. "If there's an incident like that, the operator is supposed to make an announcement about it, and explain to people what's going to happen next," Baker said. "That didn't happen. I think it means, obviously, that the T probably has some issues that it needs to pursue with respect to training so that people actually know what it is that they're supposed to be doing."
Mayor Walsh also said the MBTA should have more personnel on the platform to help in case of an emergency.
"We need to have people on the track, who actually work and understand what's going on," he said. "People don't know what's happening, and chaos and fear happen."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports
