Updated at 1:07 p.m.
The MBTA will spend about $300 million to comply with the first round of safety directives issued by the Federal Transit Administration, and the agency expects additional costs for work once the FTA releases its final report in August.
MBTA Chief Administrative Officer David Panagore told members of the agency’s audit and finance committee Thursday that more than $200 million needed for the initial work is not currently budgeted, and he anticipates Gov. Charlie Baker will file a supplemental budget to cover the costs.
"We're working right now with the administration to identify funding sources to support these efforts," he said.
The federal agency decided to step in and take a close look at the safety protocols at the MBTA following a series of serious incidents — collisions, derailments and the death of a passenger — over the course of the past year. The ongoing safety management inspection may result in additional requirements for the MBTA.
“We anticipate with the final report in late August that we will encounter more corrective action plans and additional costs,” he said.
Last month, the FTA listed four issues it wanted the T to address immediately. One was delayed critical maintenance, specifically replacing badly worn Orange Line track between Back Bay and Tufts New England Medical Center which has been slowing traffic to 10 mph since 2019.
The FTA also directed the agency to address critical staffing shortages at its Operations Control Center, where subway train operations are managed. Some dispatchers there were found to be working 16- to 20-hour shifts because of a lack of staff which the FTA deemed a serious safety hazard. Due to a lack of dispatchers, the T chose to dramatically reduce the frequency of service on the Red, Orange and Blue lines to match the number of dispatchers they have. Complying with that FTA directive has had the most impact on T riders who have endured long waits even during rush hour for trains.
MBTA officials say they are making progress on the FTA’s safety orders and have met the agency’s deadlines to submit corrective active plans to address several safety concerns, but it's been especially challenging to hire the number of dispatchers needed to beef up staffing so regular subway service can resume.
The T’s Human Resources Director Tom Waye told the audit and finance committee that the agency has already hired five new dispatchers but needs 15 more. Because training for the dispatching job takes 10 weeks, the T is still a long way off from restoring subway service to normal.
To drive more candidates to apply, the agency is offering more than $100,000 pay and added a $10,000 signing bonus as an extra incentive. The MBTA is also attempting to bring back recent retirees and former dispatchers who were promoted to other positions.
The hiring challenges aren’t limited to dispatchers. The MBTA has 599 safety related positions to fill, not to mention the 200 or more bus drivers. But the T isn’t alone when it comes to a lack of job applicants. Officials say it is now a common problem at transit agencies across the nation.
Correction: Due to an editing error, a prior version of this story incorrectly named the governor.
