On Thursday night, the MBTA had to shut down service on the Red Line due to old wiring near the Downtown Crossing station. According to reports, a few feet away from the station platform, a fire started when 30-year-old wiring sparked a blaze. Smoke spread from Park Street all the way to the Boylston T-stop (where I happened to be standing)!
Fortunately, the T was up and running again by 5 a.m. on Friday. However, the quick fix of capping the damaged wires will only be efficient for so long. This blaze comes at a time where MBTA officials are already in a financial bind. The Boston Globe spoke with Bryan Kane, the financial analyst for the MBTA. He stated that the MBTA does not have enough funds at this moment to ensure that more problems do not happen in the future. Clearly, Downtown Crossing is not the only concern for the transportation system, but it is just one more thing that they want to fix but simply cannot fund.
As far as the public that uses the T, we are in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. Many of us do not want to be one of the 19 sent to the hospital for smoke inhalation on Thursday night. However, many of us do not have a car in this city, either. We worry about using the trains in situations like these, but we simply do not have another choice. Here's hoping Massachusetts and the MBTA figure out a way to fund these problems soon. I, for one, would prefer a safer, more reliable public transportation system.
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