VIDEO: MBTA track workers dodge another moving train, agency reports

MBTA track workers were forced to dodge a moving Orange Line train while performing track maintenance March 1, the agency reported Thursday.

In a meeting of the MBTA's Safety, Health and Environment subcommittee Thursday, deputy chief safety officer Nancy Prominski said the maintenance crew jumped into cut-outs in the tunnel walls between the Tufts Medical Center and Chinatown stations, which were built into the walls for that purpose, to avoid the incoming train around 10:20 a.m.

The work crew, which included one flagger and four track workers, were unharmed.

"You are supposed to have worker protective systems in place, a system safety plan that indicates when and where the workers will be, and coordination between your dispatcher, your operator, and your workers," rail safety expert Keith Millhouse told NBC10 Boston.

Though the investigation is ongoing, the agency believes the incident was caused by a procedural violation by the train operator, who was made aware of the work ahead. As a result, all maintenance requiring manual flaggers has been suspended and will remain so as the agency reviews its procedure for performing track maintenance during service hours.

"Completely inexcusable and should never have happened, and somebody needs to figure out where it went wrong," Millhouse said.

A draft of an updated maintenance procedure is currently under review by the state Department of Public Utilities, Prominski said. Once the DPU has approved the updated procedure, MBTA employees will be trained on the new protocols immediately.

The incident, which Prominski defined as a "near-miss," is the latest in a slew of recent train mishaps and close calls. Following a series of five "near misses" and one separate employee injury spanning five weeks, the Federal Transit Administration demanded the MBTA overhaul its procedures regarding employee safety in April 2023 — one of several warnings the FTA has imposed on the MBTA in the last year. Though the MBTA promised to conduct a review of its safety precautions, incidents have continued on all of its lines.

A Red Line train failed to break for maintenance workers conducting track inspections in May, despite being flagged to stop. Then, in December, the MBTA reported two power-related incidents in two separate stretches of the Orange Line that were under repair — one involving an almost-premature reactivation of power in an area occupied by a high-rail welding truck, and one involving wires left live in a temporarily inactive station. The three episodes were declared "near misses," as no one was hurt.

In the same December meeting, however, the agency reported a track laborer who injured his leg when part of the tool he was using came loose.

Despite the potential deadliness of the incident, MBTA general manager Phillip Eng said in the meeting that the fact that workers immediately reported the incident is an example of employee comfort and improved safety culture within the agency. Prominski added that the promptness of the report and candidness of the feedback was vital to the investigation.

“I think what we’re seeing is a cultural shift in our organization where employees are seeing that by reporting things, management is taking a much more hands-on approach to solving these problems sooner,” Eng said. “It demonstrates that if they raise things up, management is taking it seriously.”

Eng was appointed as general manager by Mass. Gov. Maura Healy in late March 2023, shortly before the FTA's warning. Since he assumed the role, he has been successful in completing many of the preliminary repairs the transit system required and removing some of the slow zones that plagued the Red and Orange lines.

He also revealed new details on the derailment of a Green Line train that occurred over the weekend during the meeting, saying the center wheels of the train slipped off the track. The train was taken to the yard for inspection, and none of the 17 passengers on the train at the time were injured.