AN UNIDENTIFIED MAN DROVE his car into a cement containment wall on the top floor of the MBTA’s five-story Alewife garage on Saturday afternoon, sending a 10,000-pound piece of concrete hurtling down toward the glass-enclosed Red Line T station below. The cement block sent glass flying everywhere but amazingly the roof structure held and blocked […]
Tracking Transportation
Posted inOpinion
MBTA’s Widett plans don’t make sense
THE MBTA’S recent announcement of a $155 million land purchase at Widett Circle is an opportunity for the agency to consolidate its wide footprint of bus and rail facilities in central Boston, reducing the amount of valuable land used for these purposes. Yet the agency is intent on doing the opposite. As StreetsblogMass pointed out, […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey appointing non-MBTA team to review CRRC situation
GOV. MAURA HEALEY said on Thursday that she is putting together a team of non-MBTA technical and legal experts to review the troubling situation at the Chinese-owned Springfield assembly plant for new Red and Orange Line trains. Healey said she learned about the problems in Springfield a couple weeks ago, apparently at roughly the same […]
Posted inTransportation
Gonneville running the MBTA differently
JEFFREY GONNEVILLE, who took over as acting general manager of the MBTA in early January, is running the transit authority differently. The first hint came on January 19, when he showed up at a meeting of a subcommittee of the MBTA board to listen in on a presentation about the latest glitch with the new […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey says she needs more info on MBTA train contract
GOV. MAURA HEALEY said on Monday that she needs more information on the status of a problem-plagued contract with a Chinese company manufacturing Red and Orange Line trains for the MBTA. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” she said after a meeting with top legislative leaders, reciting her mantra that Massachusetts cannot […]
Posted inTransportation
A new MBTA board of directors is needed urgently
THE HEADLINE spoke volumes. As the MBTA’s interim general manager laid out a comprehensive presentation on the history and current status of the troubled procurement of new Red and Orange Line cars, the MBTA’s board sat silent and “asked no questions.” It was a jaw dropping, but unsurprising headline, describing the behavior of a board […]
Posted inTransportation
Doubts raised about the T’s bus redesign plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the MBTA Advisory Board on Thursday gave T overseers an earful, telling the T board that MBTA host communities are concerned that the agency won’t be able to pay for, hire enough new workers for,T and actually follow through on its plan to redraw the system’s bus […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA opens up about crippling subway car delivery delays
THE MBTA pulled back the curtain a bit on Thursday about what’s causing crippling delays in the production of new Red and Orange Line trains by a Chinese manufacturer and its assembly plant in Springfield. Jeffrey Gonneville, the T’s interim general manager, said the Chinese company, CRRC, was supposed to deliver all 152 new Orange […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA to pay for New Bedford pedestrian bridge
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE NEW BEDFORD OFFICIALS say the city will not be on the hook for any construction costs associated with a $21 million pedestrian bridge that will provide a link to a new downtown inter-city rail station. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell’s office reported Tuesday that after more than a year of talks, […]
Posted inPolitics, State Government
Special treatment considered for revenue from millionaire tax
TOP BUDGET OFFICIALS from the Legislature say they intend to abide by the will of the voters and make sure all revenue from the new millionaire tax goes to “new initiatives” in transportation and education. Exactly what would qualify as a “new initiative” hasn’t been decided yet (is a new bus or subway car a […]