(The following story by Casey Ross appeared on the Boston Herald website on January 17.)
BOSTON — Refusing to let a potential transit crisis interfere with his vacation plans, MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas jetted off to Thailand despite urgent requests by the Patrick administration that he stay in Boston to help manage a looming Amtrak strike, the Herald has learned.
Administration sources said transportation leaders specifically asked Grabauskas to cancel his plans because of the possible Amtrak strike, but the T general manager boarded a plane to Thailand on Tuesday, leaving Patrick lieutenants fuming.
“We felt we needed all hands on deck to prepare for what could be a very serious transportation emergency, and that included the general manager,” said a top administration official.
An MBTA spokesman said the strike appears “highly unlikely” but that Grabauskas nonetheless left detailed contingency plans, including travel instructions for passengers on each rail line that could be impacted.
“The plans are all but finalized and may be made public within a matter of days,” spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in a statement.
Pesaturo declined to give a date for Grabauskas’ return, but he said it will be before the earliest possible strike date of Jan. 30. He also said Grabauskas would return immediately in case of emergency.
The possible strike would create chaos on the T system because Amtrak controls service in and out of South Station, which would essentially be shut down by any work stoppage.
The station would be able to accommodate only a fraction of its 47,000 daily passengers, forcing tens of thousands of people onto buses and subways at rush hour.
But state Sen. Steven A. Baddour, chairman of the Legislature’s joint committee on transportation, defended Grabauskas, saying, “I don’t see the outrage given the fact that the administration has told me they believe a strike is unlikely.”
Amtrak is actively negotiating with transit workers to try to avoid the strike. The transit workers have been without a contract for eight years, and a special presidential committee recommended the workers receive a 35 percent pay hike through 2009, and about $200 million in back pay.
If a deal is not reached, the unions have a right to strike at midnight Jan 30. A spokesman for Amtrak, Cliff Black, said negotiators are“optimistic” that a strike will be averted. David White, of the Brotherhood of Maintenance Way Employees Division, said the union is involved in intense talks and hopes to reach a deal.
In published comments, Grabauskas has acknowledged a strike could potentially cripple the subway system. The T would also have to shut down the Providence/Stoughton line, forcing 17,000 daily passengers to seek alternate routes into the city.