As you can imagine, the place was crowded with passengers waiting for delayed trains, but they managed to send my 6:15 pm Fitchburg train out just 7 minutes late. People seemed to be aware of what had happened.

I suspect that the reduced safety procedures for Maintenance crews is a sign of asking the T to do to much with too little budget. It seems that running the extensive commuter rail system is beyond the means of the MBTA or the State.

I have read many newspaper articles about lawsuits brought against the T when they attempt to cut services they can't afford to fund. Some of these lawsuits are for forcing the state to meet the requirements of the EPA. Other suits focus on expanding services to a small population of commuters. For Example, forcing the T to build the expensive Red/Blue Line connectors to support MGH given the limited size of the MGH community.

It doesn't surprise me that safety suffers when the T is forced to make bad decisions when forced to do more with less money.