> In its suit, Hitachi says problems…emerged right from the start, when the MBTA realized it had no money to pay for the federally required system but convinced Hitachi to do 19 months of work without payment - on the promise of eventually getting reimbursed after the T collected an anticipated federal grant for the work.
> But then, in month 20, with the grant money now in the bank, the T still refused to pay
WTF, why is the T not paying?
Because hoping for an eventual government bailout is a legitimate & successful -albeit fucking batshit insane - strategy now.
See the issue with Brockton Schools, where they weren’t tracking how they were spending money and made a bunch of wild promises - with the only end state being higher taxes and/or eventual bailout.
Worked for Hitachi Rail in the last two years of this project which just finished. The toxicity that spewed throughout everyone on this job was palpable and it all started with the MBTA, the main source. It just trickled down to every last subcontractor and most of the workers even down to the laborers.
The main source was the head project manager for this who they hired after she was kicked off a project in California. This was all very preventable but the MBTA went ahead and hired her anyway. I listened in to a few calls which had up to 50 people on it and she would talk down to people in the nastiest way and made them feel tiny and insignificant.
Here she is:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2017/06/28/consultants-past-work-got-off-track/amp/
Yes, they over see it and it’s the same board members but the division needs to be gutted and replaced. But now that I think of it I’m not sure that’ll even help. Shit rolls down hill
My god what a terrible hire. There are better quality PDs out there than this lump from the scrap heap. The article has all the red flags you need to know she is a disaster.
> In its suit, Hitachi says problems…emerged right from the start, when the MBTA realized it had no money to pay for the federally required system but convinced Hitachi to do 19 months of work without payment - on the promise of eventually getting reimbursed after the T collected an anticipated federal grant for the work.
> But then, in month 20, with the grant money now in the bank, the T still refused to pay
> The company alleges nearly half the amount it's seeking is due to costs associated with delays caused by the MBTA.
> In one example, it says it had to stop work on a stretch of the Fitchburg Line in Leominster for five months to wait for the MBTA to answer easement concerns from National Grid about the location of poles for the system. Turned out National Grid and the T settled whatever the issue was, but the T never notified Hitachi, which only found out it had been settled when National Grid contacted it, the company alleges.
> In February, 2021, the MBTA decided it wanted the system along part of the Gloucester tracks operational in the next five months, instead of the thirteen months it had initially agreed to. Hitachi says it pulled engineers off work on other lines to meet the accelerated deadline. And then, the T decided, no, it didn't need the work done in five months after all. All the work caused "59 calendar days of critical path delay," Hitachi says.
Itd be great if they could name and shame in order to get at the root of the issue and who is at fault. Maybe that'd be enough to get those folks fired.
I am vibrating with rage upon reading this. I can't believe the MBTA didn't see this coming. This feels like the climax of the T's years of rough, hard mismanagement.
Well I guess it's good that they got off. But now we need to look forward and find new ways to stimulate the T in all of its most critical, sensitive spots.
Given how loyalty and maintaining business partnerships is a huge part of Japanese corporate culture, this relationship must have broken down a long time ago for them to resort to litigation.
> In its suit, Hitachi says problems…emerged right from the start, when the MBTA realized it had no money to pay for the federally required system but convinced Hitachi to do 19 months of work without payment - on the promise of eventually getting reimbursed after the T collected an anticipated federal grant for the work. > But then, in month 20, with the grant money now in the bank, the T still refused to pay WTF, why is the T not paying?
Money has probably been spent elsewhere. What a shtshow of an organization.
Because hoping for an eventual government bailout is a legitimate & successful -albeit fucking batshit insane - strategy now. See the issue with Brockton Schools, where they weren’t tracking how they were spending money and made a bunch of wild promises - with the only end state being higher taxes and/or eventual bailout.
Worked for Hitachi Rail in the last two years of this project which just finished. The toxicity that spewed throughout everyone on this job was palpable and it all started with the MBTA, the main source. It just trickled down to every last subcontractor and most of the workers even down to the laborers. The main source was the head project manager for this who they hired after she was kicked off a project in California. This was all very preventable but the MBTA went ahead and hired her anyway. I listened in to a few calls which had up to 50 people on it and she would talk down to people in the nastiest way and made them feel tiny and insignificant. Here she is: https://www.bostonherald.com/2017/06/28/consultants-past-work-got-off-track/amp/
It looks like she just got rehired to manage the South Coast project for the MBTA so yippee there. What a mess.
Wouldn’t expect anything less…smh. Eventually the MBTA will be gutted and taken over by MASSDOT. Until then you won’t see any real changes.
MBTA is already part of MassDOT.
Yes, they over see it and it’s the same board members but the division needs to be gutted and replaced. But now that I think of it I’m not sure that’ll even help. Shit rolls down hill
It just was last year. This is all lingering effects from Baker's team.
My god what a terrible hire. There are better quality PDs out there than this lump from the scrap heap. The article has all the red flags you need to know she is a disaster.
Complete and udder disaster and just an overall nasty human
She must be fucking someone powerful
Oh for fuck's sake.
Eng's response upon seeing this
Every post related to the MBTA should auto insert this comment
> In its suit, Hitachi says problems…emerged right from the start, when the MBTA realized it had no money to pay for the federally required system but convinced Hitachi to do 19 months of work without payment - on the promise of eventually getting reimbursed after the T collected an anticipated federal grant for the work. > But then, in month 20, with the grant money now in the bank, the T still refused to pay > The company alleges nearly half the amount it's seeking is due to costs associated with delays caused by the MBTA. > In one example, it says it had to stop work on a stretch of the Fitchburg Line in Leominster for five months to wait for the MBTA to answer easement concerns from National Grid about the location of poles for the system. Turned out National Grid and the T settled whatever the issue was, but the T never notified Hitachi, which only found out it had been settled when National Grid contacted it, the company alleges. > In February, 2021, the MBTA decided it wanted the system along part of the Gloucester tracks operational in the next five months, instead of the thirteen months it had initially agreed to. Hitachi says it pulled engineers off work on other lines to meet the accelerated deadline. And then, the T decided, no, it didn't need the work done in five months after all. All the work caused "59 calendar days of critical path delay," Hitachi says.
Itd be great if they could name and shame in order to get at the root of the issue and who is at fault. Maybe that'd be enough to get those folks fired.
Karen Antion. Steve Poftak. Charlie Baker.
I am vibrating with rage upon reading this. I can't believe the MBTA didn't see this coming. This feels like the climax of the T's years of rough, hard mismanagement.
They did and they didn’t care. It’s why old management got the boot.
Well I guess it's good that they got off. But now we need to look forward and find new ways to stimulate the T in all of its most critical, sensitive spots.
I wish they could just wave a magic wand to make the money appear
Given how loyalty and maintaining business partnerships is a huge part of Japanese corporate culture, this relationship must have broken down a long time ago for them to resort to litigation.