Thursday, 4:30 PM
Funding secured for 'seamless' radio system in T tunnels
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff
City, state, and transit officials signed an agreement today to fund a "seamless" emergency communications system in T tunnels to eliminate what has been highlighted as a major vulnerability in Boston's preparedness for a terrorist attack.
The new Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority radio system will not only allow director contact between first responders deep underground and dispatchers, but it will also facilitate communication between commanders from various agencies responding to an emergency.
Once complete, the project will expand to allow enhanced radio communications within tunnels for the Boston Emergency Medical Service, the Boston Fire and Police Departments, the Cambridge Fire and Police Departments, the Somerville Fire and Police Departments, the Massachusetts State Police, and the MBTA Transit Police Department.
In 2006, five years after the September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, a legislative report found that Boston's transit system remained vulnerable to a terrorist attack because the MBTA's police force was too small, officers needed more training, and first-responders lacked a seamless radio system to communicate within subway tunnels.
The report was issued after the 2005 London transit bombings and the 2005 Madrid train bombings.
The first phase of the project is expected to cost $8 million, of which the T has committed $4 million. The Executive Office of Public Safety and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness each committed $2 million of Homeland Security funds.
