"Safety is Not the Priority"
at Governor Baker's MBTA
Under Governor Baker’s leadership, the MBTA is going off the rails.
New Data Shows Baker Slashed the MBTA
Maintenance Workforce
Even though hundreds of thousands of riders count on the MBTA every day, Governor Baker slashed its front-line maintenance workforce by 20 percent,1 since he took office in 2015.
These cuts, experts found, prevented “required maintenance and inspections,” and “hampered efforts to keep the MBTA functional.”2
As Baker cut the MBTA’s maintenance workforce, train derailments started increasing.3 And they haven’t stopped.
On Governor Baker’s watch, the MBTA’s safety and derailment record is “among the nation’s worst.”
Over the past five years, there were at least 50 MBTA train derailments4 — the second-highest of all major U.S. transit systems.
Railway safety experts and advocates say that the MBTA’s derailment history isn’t normal, and “shouldn’t be happening with that frequency.”5
A June 2019 report by The Boston Globe confirms that sentiment, reporting that Baker’s MBTA, “has steadily amassed one of the nation’s worst safety records.”6
These concerns were echoed in December 2019 by a blue-ribbon panel that concluded, “safety is not the priority at the MBTA.”7
The panel found that derailments have resulted in “numerous injuries, millions of dollars in equipment damage and repair costs, significant delays, unpredictable service and increased dissatisfaction.”8
Invest Now Coalition Calls Upon Governor Baker
to Prioritize MBTA Safety
Governor Baker must take action to turn around his unsafe MBTA, starting with increasing the number of trained, front-line workers who fix the switches, repair the tracks, perform critically important maintenance and inspections, and who keep the system reliable and safe.
of MBTA Safety
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Foot Notes
1. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, 32.”
2. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, v.”
3. Coleman and Rocheleau, “MBTA among nation’s worst for derailments, records show.”
4. Coleman and Rocheleau, “MBTA among nation’s worst for derailments, records show.”
5. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, 7.”
6. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, 58.”
7. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, 7.”
8. LaHood, Flowers & Bianco, “Safety Review Panel, 3.”