MBTA Releases Safety Improvement Plan

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced it has released its "3-Year Safety Improvement Plan," a forward-looking document on the MBTA’s commitment to strengthen its safety culture through continuous improvement, according to the agency's news release.

The "3-Year Safety Improvement Plan" was produced in response to an act of the legislature and incorporates a number of safety-related initiatives related to all modes of transportation operated by the MBTA.

The plan is centered on four categories: workforce; data, system, and communications; rules, policies, and procedures; and quality management. In each category and across all modes, the plan lays out a series of objectives that will result in improved service while prioritizing the safety of MBTA customers, employees, and contractors at all times. 

The MBTA’s "3-Year Safety Improvement Plan" embodies a multitude of mandated requirements from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). It contains an overview of the relevant state and federal regulatory authorities, required safety plans, a description of each transit mode, safety objectives for the next three years, and the safety performance targets for each transportation mode.

This document also includes an overview of the FTA’s Safety Management Inspection (SMI), related Special Directives, and MBTA’s targets for achieving compliance with the directives. 

This Safety Improvement Plan is in addition to the FTA’s Safety Management Inspection report produced in 2022. That process involved a review of operations, training, vehicle maintenance, signals, train control, and track access among other items. As a result, the FTA issued eight special directives; in response, the T developed 38 corrective action plans and 545 action items that detail how the T intends to address each special directive. As of February 2023, the T completed 36% of the total action items with the expectation for 100% completion by the end of 2025.

The Safety Improvement Plan will be updated annually following an assessment of progress made based on measurable objectives within the plan.