Latest news with #MassachusettsBayTransportationAuthority
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
MBTA employees face federal charges of falsifying track inspection reports
Five current and former employees of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority were arrested Thursday on federal charges of falsifying track inspection reports, authorities said. The Justice Department said the MBTA staff filed reports claiming they had inspected tracks on the transit network's Red Line, when in reality, they had skipped the inspection and were inside a T maintenance facility at the time. Several of the employees were also charged with working on private vehicles at the facility during work hours. The employees all worked at the MBTA's Cabot Yard facility in South Boston, where the transit agency placed nearly a dozen employees on administrative leave last fall during an investigation into allegations they worked on non-MBTA vehicles during work hours. Brain Pfaffinger, 47, of Marshfield; Ronald Gamble, 62, of Dorchester; Jensen Vatel, 42, of Brockton; Nathalie Mendes, 53, of New Bedford; and Andy Vicente, 36, of Bridgewater face charges of aiding and abetting the falsification of records and aiding and abetting false statements. They were taken into federal custody Thursday morning and are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston later in the day, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente — former MBTA track inspectors — are accused of falsifying track inspection reports on the Red Line between Sept. 3 and Oct. 15 of last year. During times they claimed to have inspected railroad tracks, the employees were at the Cabot Yard facility, where they had access to a break and coffee room for inspectors, prosecutors said. Gamble, Vatel and Vicente are also accused of working on private vehicles during work time. Pfaffinger, their former supervisor, 'not only knew that his subordinates worked on private vehicles during work hours, but had his subordinates work on his own vehicle,' prosecutors said. MBTA announces commuter rail schedule change to allow major rail replacement MBTA Orange Line floods during nor'easter; shuts down service Foxboro MBTA commuter rail station work rushing to be ready by FIFA games Mass. man struck and killed by Commuter Rail train remembered as 'dear and humble' Berated, spat on, and even stabbed: Can a new bill stop assaults on bus and train drivers? Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Five people arrested for falsifying MBTA track inspection records, US Attorney says
Four former Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority employees and one current MBTA employee were arrested and charged Thursday with allegedly falsifying Red Line track inspection reports. Brian Pfaffinger, 47, of Marshfield; Ronald Gamble, 62, of Dorchester; Jensen Vatel, 42, of Brockton; Nathalie Mendes, 53, of New Bedford; and Andy Vicente, 36, of Bridgewater have been indicted for falsification of records, aiding and abetting; and false statements, aiding and abetting, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. Pfaffinger, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente were arrested Thursday morning and were expected to appear in federal court in Boston later Thursday. Boston 25 has reached out to the MBTA for comment on the arrests. According to the charging documents, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente were former MBTA track inspectors. Rather than complete inspections, prosecutors said during the period between Sept. 3, 2024 to Oct. 15, 2024, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente allegedly falsified track inspection reports, which stated that they completed track inspections for Red Line tracks when they did not perform the inspections. Prosecutors allege that instead, at the time of the inspections, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente were inside Cabot Yard, an MBTA location that contained a coffee and breakroom for Red Line inspection employees. Cabot Yard also contained a large garage where Gamble, Vatel and Vicente allegedly worked on private vehicles during work hours, prosecutors said. On Sept. 19, 2024, during the time that Vicente allegedly performed a track inspection, video surveillance depicted Vicente (circled in red below) sitting inside of Cabot Garage holding his cellular phone, prosecutors said. On Sept. 23, 2024, during the time that Mendes allegedly performed a track inspection, video surveillance depicted Mendes (circled in red below) sitting inside her vehicle. Mendes allegedly did not leave her vehicle until well after her inspection ended. On Sept. 24, 2024, during the time that Vatel allegedly performed a track inspection, video surveillance depicted Vatel (circled in red below) chatting with other MBTA employees in the parking lot outside of Cabot Garage. On Oct. 8, 2024, during the time that Gamble allegedly performed a track inspection, video surveillance depicted Gamble (circled in red below) performing detail work on a private vehicle inside of Cabot Garage. Pfaffinger, the former supervisor for Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente, allegedly not only knew that his subordinates worked on private vehicles during work hours, but had his subordinates work on his own vehicle, prosecutors allege. On Oct. 14, 2024, Gamble created an inspection report alleging he conducted an inspection, but surveillance video showed that Gamble was inside of Cabot Garage with Pfaffinger, prosecutors said. Despite knowing that the inspection report was false, and that Gamble was at Cabot Garage on Oct. 14, 2024, the following day, Pfaffinger allegedly created supporting documentation for Gamble's Oct. 14, 2024, inspection, which he knew to be false, prosecutors said. If convicted of the charge of falsification of records and aiding and abetting the falsification of records, Pfaffinger, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison to be followed by up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted of the charge of false statements and aiding and abetting false statements, Pfaffinger, Gamble, Vatel, Mendes and Vicente face a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Thursday's arrests came one day after former Norfolk County Sheriff's Deputy Superintendent Thomas Brady was arrested and charged with extortion. Brady, 53, of Norwood, is accused of forcing his subordinates to perform free labor at his house during their public work shifts, Foley said Wednesday. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of extortion and three counts of use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
MBTA announces commuter rail schedule change to allow major rail replacement
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will soon launch an extensive rail replacement project covering 30 miles of tracks in Boston, forcing schedule changes for one commuter rail line. The $12 million project will replace all rail on the Fairmount Line of the commuter rail, going 'well beyond the amount of rail replacement work typically done in a year,' the MBTA said. It will set up the T to introduce battery-electric trains to the Fairmount Line in 2028, a milestone for the state to meet its goal of eliminating carbon emissions from public transit. But to accomplish that work in a timely manner, the MBTA must limit service on the Fairmount Line from June 2 through the fall. The line will run with reduced service from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and weekends until the work is completed. The Fairmount Line provides service from South Station to Hyde Park, Boston's southernmost neighborhood, winding primarily through Dorchester and Mattapan on the way. It serves approximately 4,000 riders daily during the workweek, according to data from the public transit advocacy group TransitMatters. While construction is underway, work crews will also deep clean and power wash all stations along the Fairmount Line, remove graffiti, clear trash and brush from the tracks, and improve water drainage. Passengers can take nearby bus routes for alternate service, the MBTA said. On weekends through the fall, the T also said three inbound trains and four outbound trains on the Franklin Line will operate on the Northeast Corridor route between Readville and South Station, instead of taking their normal route on the Fairmount Line. A separate schedule change will also come on June 2 when construction ends on the Lowell and Newburyport/Rockport lines of the commuter rail. The T plans to return midday trains to the schedules for both lines. The Lowell Line schedule change allowed for the reconstruction of Winchester Center Station, which is expected to reopen in early June. On the Newburyport/Rockport Line, the T said it focused on track and other infrastructure upgrades. MBTA Orange Line floods during nor'easter; shuts down service Foxboro MBTA commuter rail station work rushing to be ready by FIFA games Mass. man struck and killed by Commuter Rail train remembered as 'dear and humble' Berated, spat on, and even stabbed: Can a new bill stop assaults on bus and train drivers? Your MBTA Commuter Rail train may now run on vegetable oil Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Even the MBTA can't stop Phil Eng
A wave of applause began to rise. Healey smiled and tried to continue. 'And Phil –' Advertisement The clapping cut her off again, growing still louder. More cheers erupted. People took to their feet, hundreds of them. Phil Eng, seated in the front row, was surprised. Wearing a dark suit and red tie, his hair freshly cropped close to his head, he stood and gave a small wave. The 63-year-old is uncomfortable with effusive praise, maybe even skeptical given what he knows about shifting political winds. But there they were: state lawmakers and small-town officials, CEOs and labor leaders, clergy members and nonprofit directors, all standing and applauding him. Healey flashed him a thumbs-up. 'Yes,' the governor said when people finally began to retake their seats. 'In Phil we trust!' 'In Phil we trust' seems to be the dominant mood in Boston these days, as unbelievable as that is to anyone familiar with the record of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. After ages of deferred maintenance, disinvestment, and declining service — plus a string of disasters large and small — the MBTA had long felt entirely unfixable. But then Eng became general manager two years ago, and suddenly some rare positive news followed. Union contracts got settled. Fractured tracks got fixed. Advertisement Along the way, Eng has been winning over not only public officials, but the T's least-forgiving critics: riders. To be sure, there's still plenty to complain about in a city where comparing stories about the T's problems feels like a civic pastime. And yet now riders are chasing Eng down train cars for selfies, creating memes of him with laser-beam eyes, and nicknaming him Phil Eng rides the Red Line in May. joanna fiona chattman/for the Boston Globe For his part, Eng, a civil engineer by training, loves hearing from happy T customers, though he has a tendency to meet a compliment by probing for intel on what else needs improving. He also found the standing ovation deeply affecting. But when I asked him about it later, he struggled to put his feelings into words. 'I guess you could say I was humbled,' he said after some thought. It was as if he didn't want to seem attached to a kind of public affection that might disappear any day. He prefers to stay focused on the work to come. Even when Eng is standing still, his mind is racing ahead. It has to be. The MBTA, the nation's oldest subway system, is sprawling, complex, and all-too-often crumbling. Sometimes, Advertisement Governor Healey knew But Eng was also taking a big personal and professional gamble in taking the job. Raised by Chinese immigrant parents who worked endless hours running a storefront laundry on Long Island, he climbed to some of the highest state transportation posts in New York, through a rare combination of technical prowess and people skills. But by the time a Massachusetts headhunter called, he was in a different phase of life, past 60 and working a lucrative consulting job with better hours than in the public sector. He and his wife, their four children grown, were talking about finally doing some more traveling. Accepting the MBTA job would mean taking a significant pay cut and moving to Massachusetts from Long Island — he'd never lived outside of New York — all in exchange for a 24/7, high-stakes job where every phone call could bring news of a catastrophe. Over the past two decades, turnover in the top MBTA post has taken place once every two years, on average. It's rare for a T general manager to make it to four. Advertisement There were many reasons for Eng to say no. He didn't need the job, and some surely wondered why he, or anyone really, would even want it. But Phil Eng is built differently than many people. He couldn't wait to get started. Eng is a perpetual motion machine. The first thing he does when his alarm goes off in the morning is check his phone, scanning the MBTA's alerts for anything that might need his attention. He knows it won't be something huge — his team will call at any hour if something goes south. By 7 a.m., he's out the door of the East Boston rental apartment he shares with his wife, Carole, and speed-walking to the nearby Maverick station. By Boston standards, Eng has a pretty good commute: Blue Line to Green, 20 minutes or so door to door. He spends that time checking emails, speaking with T employees and riders, and scanning T stations and subway cars for problems. If he spots something — a burned-out light, a spilled cup of Dunkin' — he places a call to his staff to make sure it's flagged and fixed. Eng encourages his employees to do the same. 'What better eyes and ears than our own?' he says. Eng's office is on the third floor of the State Transportation Building at 10 Park Plaza, about a block from Boston Common, where Advertisement He thrives on identifying and fixing problems, even political ones. His days often stretch past 7 p.m., those hours spent in meetings or in the field working over knotty problems, like the recent Eng works beside a New York Mets poster in 2023, shortly after his arrival at the MBTA. Lane Turner/Globe Staff The MBTA is an enormous thing for anyone to keep in their head. One evening in late March, I met Eng at his downtown office, so we could ride the subway back to his home in East Boston. He walked briskly toward the Boylston Street Green Line station, as if he had to stay one step ahead or get crushed by the relentless list of demands on his time. Advertisement As we approached the entrance, I waved my well-worn plastic Charlie Card, hoping to impress him that I'm a regular T rider. 'You won't need it,' he said, explaining that the station's fare gates weren't working. I was so surprised, I almost stopped walking. Among the steady stream of MBTA alerts pinging Eng's phone that day, he had somehow noticed one that said the electricity was out at these specific fare gates. He also didn't seem the least bit defensive that one of the first things I was witnessing that day was a problem. Repair workers were already on it, he assured me. As he's learned in his life, it's no use stewing over things. The best you can do is work the problem, then tackle the next one. When Eng was growing up, his parents operated a laundry in Williston Park, a middle-class town on Long Island. The family lived in the back of the business, Hand Laundry, until Eng was about 6 and they'd saved enough to buy a 1,250-square-foot home around the corner. Eng and his siblings, an older sister, Rose, and younger brother, Roger, saw their parents put in long hours. 'They were working 24/7 before I heard that phrase really become so popular,' Eng says with his unmistakable New York accent. His stories so frequently circle back to his family that, earlier this year, I boarded a train at South Station to make the journey to his hometown. I met his 93-year-old mother, Maureen, at the family home, where she has continued to live since her husband, Frank, died at age 94 a decade ago. Eng's siblings live nearby. Eng being held by his father, alongside his mother and older sister Rose. From Phil Eng Wearing a sweater and a cross necklace, Maureen is mentally sharp and moves well with the help of a walker. She talks about those early years with a small smile and a matter-of-factness, as if grueling hours in a sweltering laundry was just an ordinary start for newcomers to America. For many Chinese immigrants as far back as in the mid-19th century, it was. 'In the beginning, when I came over here, it was only 18 cents a shirt,' she says, sitting in her living room, her white hair pulled back. 'Eighteen cents — that's it. That time was very tough.' Still, she and her husband figured out a way to treat every customer as special, a lesson Eng has taken to heart in his own work. 'Their commitment was roof, food, take care of the family, but also to the customers that they had,' he says. 'Everyone had different things about their shirts: 'I want more starch.' 'I want less starch.'' His parents made sure customers left satisfied. They were one of few Asian families living in the area then. Eng's parents knew customers would have trouble pronouncing their Chinese names, so they took on American ones — Mo-Ching became Maureen and Ging-Ngep became Frank. They spoke Cantonese at home, but their kids mainly replied in English, which their parents didn't mind. They wanted the children to do well in America. 'They wanted us to fit in,' Eng says. Eng and his mother. From Phil Eng They also changed the spelling of their family name from 'Ng' to 'Eng,' in part because customers found the original hard to pronounce, and in part because neighborhood kids mocked the name, his mother recalls, saying 'Ng' stood for 'No Good.' There was a limit to fitting in, however: If Eng's father overheard ethnic insults to his children, he would always speak up to stop it. Maureen says her husband had an elementary school education — she only had a bit more — but prioritized learning. She recalled Phil was on the quiet side. Before he started kindergarten, he'd never stray far from his father, whether he was speaking to customers or toiling over an ironing board. 'He would never, never go away,' she says. 'His father didn't know what to do with him, so he gives him a little bit of math. 'If I give you 20 cents and then you go to the candy store and buy something, how much do you have left?'' All the kids were eager students, Phil so much he'd get upset when school was canceled for a snow day. But by high school, his parents' entrepreneurial streak had kicked in and he saw a way to earn some extra money, Maureen recalls. 'I tell you. It snows? That's good. Phil takes the snow shovel asking the people if they need him to shovel the snow. He takes care of people's yards,' she says. 'Later, he delivers papers — . He got to be a master carrier.' Through high school, Eng stood out more in math and science than in other subjects, so a guidance counselor recommended he apply to engineering programs for college. When he was accepted to The Eng family's laundry business in Williston Park on Long Island. From Phil Eng After a year at Cooper Union, Eng had developed some doubts about civil engineering. He could do the work, but didn't love all the calculus and physics. Civil engineers speak in the language of tensile strength and megapascals, a world that felt confining to him. He considered transferring to architecture, but that would require him to apply to that program and could jeopardize his scholarship. He stuck with civil engineering. When Eng got a job in 1983 in the Every big highway and bridge project has a way of hitting snags — a faulty measurement that costs money, say, or a late delivery that throws everything that follows off schedule. Throughout his 20s and 30s, Eng developed a reputation as an engineer with a nimble mind, the kind you went to when just such an issue emerged. He had a knack for quickly gathering input from others, diagnosing the problem, and designing a plan of action. A series of small promotions and incremental raises followed, which was welcome financial news for Eng, his wife, and their growing family. In 1991, he'd married Carole Scott, a woman from Wales who had been working as an au pair on Long Island when they were introduced through a mutual friend. Over the next decade, they had two sons and twin daughters. At work, doubts about his civil engineering track still pecked at Eng. One day in 2001 he was invited to take part in an executive leadership retreat, which included a 'You're on the wrong side!' a fellow engineer cracked. The results were a revelation to Eng as well. They put words to a sense that he was happiest when he could bring his full personality to work, emotions and all. ('My wife will joke that I could cry at any kind of movie really quickly,' Eng says.) As messy as working with teams could be, he loved it. Eng inspecting the Brooklyn Bridge in 1992. From Phil Eng His interest in leading teams on ambitious projects got noticed, including by the higher-ups in the New York Department of Transportation. In 2012, when he was in his early 50s, he was promoted to chief engineer, overseeing about 2,500 employees. The $152,000-a-year position meant leading high-profile bridge and highway projects that developed under the watchful eye of Governor Andrew Cuomo. The new job meant working out of the Albany headquarters, about a three-hour drive from his Long Island home. He and Carole decided it made no sense for the whole family to move — the children were settled in good public schools — though that meant she'd essentially be a single mother during the week. For about four years, Eng came home only on weekends, when he tried to pack in as much family time as possible. In Albany, he considered renting an apartment, but when he did the math, he saw he'd save money by staying in a hotel. Each week, though, he'd go online to compare hotel prices and move to the cheapest one. 'I'd stay in hotels that I'd never ask Carole to stay in,' he says. Carole and Eng at their wedding in 1991. From Phil Eng Cuomo leaned heavily on Eng to undertake big projects in abbreviated time frames, such as the nearly $900 million As a leader, Eng stayed engaged in the details, but also delegated power to his managers, who were expected to work collaboratively. Eng pushed them hard, but in his own way. 'I never heard a time when he raised voices with anybody,' recalls Sam Zhou, a former assistant commissioner for operations in New York's Transportation Department, whom Eng persuaded to join the MBTA staff. 'If there is an issue, he will pick up the phone and call or walk to your office and say, 'Let's talk through this.' He doesn't do memos back and forth.' Eng believes his collaborative style leads to better results. 'I've seen many leaders and managers that are just very directive and not caring, and they could be effective to a certain point, right?' he says. 'But I also think if you get people to want to do something, you actually get more than if you say: 'I told you to do it, so just do it.'' While in Albany, Eng gained another insight that informs his work: When it comes to their daily commute, the public can handle a degree of glitches and delays — but they want higher-ups to give the bad news to them straight, then explain what's being done to fix the problem. In 2017, Cuomo supported Eng's shift to executive roles at the New York City region's Eng, in a Boy Scout leader uniform, with son Christopher. From Phil Eng The LIRR, handling some 250,000 riders a day, was fraught with major service delays, and its previous leader dogged by complaints about poor communication, recalls Gerard Bringmann, chair of LIRR's commuter council representing riders. By contrast, 'Phil was a breath of fresh air,' Bringmann says. Eng threw himself into a major capital program to improve rail lines and switches, which he was confident would speed up travel times. He also made sure to be visible to riders, even during the challenging years of the pandemic. 'There was Phil, the president of the LIRR, walking through the train and handing out masks,' Bringmann recalls. Eng's four-year tenure had its low moments, including wrangling with unions about overtime, and alleged abuses of it, as Eng pushed big projects. At one point, a photo of him grimacing appeared in Newsday — the paper he once delivered as a kid — with the headline 'MTA, LIRR union relationship worse than ever.' Dennis Varley, former chief engineer of the LIRR, remembers Eng slowly winning over many employees with his hard work and careful decision-making. 'He's a quick study,' Varley says. Eng's track-improvement changes eventually led to some of the best on-time performances posted by the LIRR. But around 2021, an administrative overhaul to centralize operations within the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took away some of the autonomy from the LIRR's top post. It was not a welcome change for Eng. He was just past his 60th birthday, and it seemed time to do what many colleagues had long advised him to do. Go to the private sector, people said. Cash in on your expertise and enjoy the saner hours. Eng took a position with a construction consulting firm, based on Long Island. A part of Carole had thought, even hoped, her husband was ready to enjoy more leisure time. But she also knew, through three decades of marriage, that he can get restless and is at his best in the middle of the action. Eng wasn't on the job long before he felt something was missing. He wasn't that excited about the pursuit of high-playing clients, including wining and dining at nice restaurants. He missed the energy — and sense of purpose — in the public sector. Speaking of that time, Eng chooses his words carefully, as he often does when he feels he risks disparaging someone or an organization. He wants me to know he was grateful for the opportunity. It wasn't them; it was him. 'I didn't really feel that I was fulfilled in everything I was doing,' he says, 'and I wasn't.' When I speak to Carole, she puts it more directly: He was 'miserable.' But when an executive headhunter for Massachusetts came calling in early 2023, the couple still had some thinking to do. Though the GM position would be high paying — a five-year contract with a base salary of $470,000, plus incentive bonuses — it would still mean a pay cut from his private-sector job and moving to Massachusetts. Soon, however, the answer was clear. 'He gets a rush from being a problem solver,' Carole says. Eng started in April 2023, and threw himself into the MBTA job like someone rescued from a career detour. He didn't mind the new job's long hours — his phone was ringing again with people who needed him. He'd done his homework about the T's problems, but some things were even worse than he'd expected. Shortly into his tenure, he inherited one of his first major crises. Large portions of the tracks for the new, After an intense probe, Eng released his findings in an October 2023 press conference, acknowledging the errors made, earlier lack of disclosure, and that the contractors responsible for the errors — not taxpayers — would be responsible for the fixes. The first major crisis Phil Eng faced after starting his job at the MBTA was the discovery of a problem with the tracks for the Green Line extension in Somerville and Medford. Lane Turner/Globe Staff 'All I know is that I believe the team could have been more proactive and should have been more proactive,' Eng said. At least two officials subsequently left, but the T wouldn't say if they were fired, or even name who they were. And Eng still demurs from pointing fingers. In his view, this was part of a larger cultural problem at the MBTA that was broken and in need of repair: People were afraid to speak up about mistakes. They stayed in their own silos. Those on long-term capital improvement projects, for instance, often didn't talk enough to day-to-day operations, and vice versa. This led to extensive delays on projects, including building the new Too often, Eng says, the T culture wasn't built to consider novel solutions. For instance, not all capital improvement fixes require a total shutdown of day-to-day service, he says. Sometimes you have to 'change the tire while riding the bicycle.' To change the culture, he also made some staffing changes. He persuaded several trusted colleagues from his previous jobs, including Zhou and Varley, to relocate to Massachusetts to help germinate the kind of MBTA work culture he wanted, as well as promoted a highly popular internal MBTA candidate, Ryan Coholan, to the important position of chief operating officer. In the meantime, he's directed the hiring of some 1,500 new employees. Phil Eng poses for a portrait at the MBTA Training Facility in South Boston. joanna fiona chattman/for the Boston Globe Given the T's grim situation before Eng's arrival, perhaps he could only look good by comparison. Longtime MBTA workers say a culture shift is indeed happening — and staff morale and levels of cross-department communication are higher than they've been in a long time. 'By far, he's the best general manager we've ever had,' says James Evers, president of the Boston Carmen's Union, Local 589, which represents the vast majority of the T's 8,000 employees, and has himself been working at the agency for more than 20 years. At the end of 2023, Eng and the agency embarked on their most ambitious project yet, the Thomas McGee, chair of the MBTA board of directors, recalls some anxiety about the plan. If successful, trains would travel faster and more safely on upgraded rail lines, rather than crawl through slow zones — some as slow as 3 miles per hour — that had been federally mandated to avoid derailments. But what if it didn't work and angry riders revolted? Eng persuaded the board to take a chance. Now all he had to do was deliver. Normally unflappable, he had some restless nights ahead of the project kickoff in November 2023. 'That was a scary weekend,' he recalls. But they'd prepared the best they could, inundating the public with announcements about the alternative bus schedules and timetables. Eng chats with a driver at Wonderland station in Revere. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Riders endured frustrations, yet by the end of last year, as scheduled, all major track work was complete. By the end, they'd replaced 250,000 feet of rail and all slow zones had disappeared. Officials calculated that the improvements saved riders 2.4 million minutes every weekday, according to an MBTA press release. Dan Grabauskas, now a transportation consultant in New York, served as MBTA general manager from 2005 to 2009. He's been impressed that Eng 'asked people to bite the bullet,' and says the risk paid off. 'What is his secret sauce?' Grabauskas asks. 'Visibility, availability, and transparency.' Rather than passengers leading a revolt, they've elevated him to some kind of folk hero. When I rode with him for a second time, in mid-May, I saw at least six riders approach him, one by one. 'Excuse me, I thought I recognized you,' said one man, walking over to Eng on a Red Line platform. 'I just want to thank you for the Red Line working so well.' Eng thanked him, then pivoted to asking for more feedback. Pradeepta Panigrahi, an engineer at Gillette, asked if he could get a selfie. He posted it on Instagram later that day, writing, 'It's not hard to guess the reasons behind the recent improvements on the T — when you have strong and down to earth leadership working with intent from the grassroots level up, & not just content with a title.' MBTA rider Pradeepta Panigrahi gets a selfie with Eng. joanna fiona chattman/for the Boston Globe More than two years into his five-year contract as GM, Eng and Carole still rent in an East Boston high-rise, which has sweeping views of Boston Harbor. They still own their Long Island home, and Carole returns there with some frequency to visit family and friends. He goes back too, mostly to visit his mother, often helping her fix broken things around the house. I wondered if they decided to rent to hedge their bets in Boston, because they weren't sure how long he'd last in a job that can be politically precarious. Eng tells me they're now looking to buy a place. There are other signs they're getting settled, too. One of their twin daughters, now in her mid-20s, lives in Boston and works as a biomedical engineer. Eng is delighted that they meet for dinner about once a week, the kind of family time he regrets missing when his kids were younger. In his downtown office, posters of the Celtics and Patriots have made their way to the walls, though his Mets collection isn't going anywhere. Eng has had other reasons recently to be pleased. Funding is key to his ability to improve the system, and the MBTA, a quasi-public agency, has proposed a Though Eng knows the future can be uncertain for a man in his position, he's enjoying it while he can. When he and his wife board the T for a Sox game or concert, he makes a point to say hello to subway drivers and platform workers. Quite often, the worker hands Carole a phone. The inevitable question is: 'Can you take our picture?' When asked how well Eng is adjusting to life in Boston, Carole doesn't hesitate. 'He is loving it here.' They're not sure exactly where they'll land in their search for buying a place in the city. They've both had such a long stretch in the suburbs of Long Island that they're looking for a change — having restaurants, museums, and sports venues nearby would be nice. And, of course, good T access is non-negotiable. Eng has work to do. Additional reporting by editorial assistant Adelaide Parker. Patricia Wen can be reached at
Bloomberg
15-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Massachusetts GOP Governor Contender Downplays Federal Pressure
Brian Shortsleeve is seeking to become the next Republican governor of Massachusetts, a state that's facing acute economic pressure from the White House 's cuts to federal funding for universities and scientific research. He doesn't want to dwell on that. 'I'm running for governor. I'm not running for president,' Shortsleeve, a venture capital executive and the former chief administrator of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority under previous Republican Governor Charlie Baker, said in an interview at Bloomberg's Boston office.
