Audit Schedule and Activities
The DPU is the Commonwealth’s designated Rail Transit SSO Agency (“SSOA”) which administers the SSO Program in the state. DPU provides safety oversight of the state’s only rail transit agency (“RTA”), the MBTA, including execution of a Triennial Safety Program Audit. The requirements of the Triennial Audit are defined in 49 C.F.R. Part 674.31.
The planning for this Triennial Audit started early 2023 by following the PSOG Section 5.3 for the Triennial Audit. The DPU SSO Program used a 12 Grouping method for the execution of this audit as described in the Triennial Audit Design section of this report. The 12 Groupings are designed to account for all the original 21 elements of the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (“PTASP”) or in the case of the MBTA, the ASP. The requirements for the content of the ASP are described in 49 CFR Part 673. The 12 Groupings checklists were developed and delivered to the MBTA in advance of staff participation in the audit to ensure the appropriate MBTA personnel were available for interviews and field visits.
Next, the audit team completed a Data Analysis Report with a focus on the scope of the audit as described above. This analysis report was completed in March 2023 and updated in August 2023. Schedules of interviews and field work were developed, along with a document request for the audit. A letter dated August 9, 2023, was delivered to the MBTA along with a request for additional documentation. This letter and document request served as notice to the MBTA that the audit had officially been opened and was underway and can be found in Appendix E of this document.
The on-site interviews were scheduled and conducted the week of October 2-6, 2023, and more field inspections were conducted during December 4-8, 2023. Planning activities for these portions, and other activities for this audit, were conducted between DPU and MBTA Safety staff in the weeks leading up to the October interviews.
The audit team began the on-site week in October 2023 by completing Track Safety Training. The initial portion was a virtual learning delivered via MBTA’s Learning Management System. Then the team also participated in the ROW Addendum Compliant training and completed it on October 2, 2023. After this, the audit team performed interviews with MBTA staff at both the Park Plaza and Kneeland Street offices, as well as Charlestown and Wellington Yard.
The team returned the first week of December to conduct field work, visiting the South Boston Switching Station, several substations, Everett Shop, and Innerbelt Shop and Yard for a demonstration of the progress of the Green Line Train Protection System (“GLTPS”).
More detailed reports from each of the visits are available in the appendices of this report.
Documents received and reviewed for this audit can be found in Appendix C of this report.
Site Examinations and Inspections
Site examinations and inspections were performed during the audit at the following locations:
- Everett Shop
- GLTPS project and Innerbelt Carhouse
- South Boston Switching Station
- Substation – 487 Southampton St
- Substation – 236 Southampton St
- Twin Pack Jet 68-Megawatt Generator
- Carhouses
- Alewife
- Cabot
- Mattapan
- Orient Heights
- Reservoir
- Riverside
- Operations Control Center (“OCC”) and Power Control Center (“PCC”) – 45 High St
Station Observations and Inspections
Station observations and inspections were performed during the audit at the following locations:
- Blue Line – 7 Stations
- Airport
- Aquarium
- Beachmont
- Maverick
- State
- Suffolk Downs
- Wonderland
- Green Line – 11 Stations
- Ball Square
- Brandon Hall
- Chestnut Hill
- Coolidge Corner
- Eliot
- Mission Park
- Newton Center
- Newton Highlands
- Warren St
- Washington St
- Woodland
- Mattapan Line – 5 Stations
- Cappen
- Central
- Mattapan
- Milton
- Valley Station
- Orange Line – 10 Stations
- Assembly
- Community College
- Jackson Square
- Malden Center
- Mass Ave
- Oak Grove
- Roxbury Crossing
- Ruggles
- Stoney Brook
- Wellington
- Red Line – 13 Stations
- Alewife
- Andrew
- Ashmont
- Davis
- Downtown Crossing
- Fields Corner
- Harvard
- JFK Mass
- Kendall MIT
- Porter
- Savin Hill
- Shawmut
- South Station