An unaffiliated campaign of grateful riders
Zero slow zones for the first time in twenty years. Satisfaction doubled, ridership climbing, and a general manager who rides the Blue Line to work every morning like the rest of us. Boston has statues for generals, ballplayers, and a family of bronze ducks. We want to add one for the general manager who got the trains back up to speed.
The case
The T he inherited was under active federal safety investigation after a series of accidents. Trains crawled at 3 mph through hundreds of slow zones. In November 2023, roughly one in four riders on the Red, Blue, and Orange lines reached their destination on time.
The Track Improvement Program scheduled 23 full-access closures in 2024. Crews took whole stretches of line out of service, and over the course of the program they replaced 250,000 feet of rail. Eng also hired more than 1,300 people and signed labor deals with every T union for the first time in over a decade.
On December 23, 2024, the system had zero speed restrictions for the first time in about twenty years. The Federal Transit Administration, which had investigated the T in 2022, sent its chief safety officer to Boston for the occasion, and the agency described the milestone as the start of a new era.
Why him
Pillar one
When Eng arrived, more than 220 speed restrictions were in force, some slowing trains to 3 mph. He scheduled 23 full closures in 2024, an approach he called ripping off the Band-Aid, and crews laid 250,000 feet of new rail. By December 2024 the system had no slow zones, the first time in about 20 years. Eng described it as 40 years of work in 14 months.
Pillar two
When Eng started, the T was under federal safety investigation and short on staff. He hired more than 1,300 people, signed agreements with every union for the first time in over a decade, and built the largest workforce the T has had since 1999. At the Cabot Yard maintenance facility, workers allegedly filed reports for Red Line track inspections they never performed and used the garage to work on private cars. Eng fired them, Transit Police brought in federal authorities, and prosecutors filed charges. The Carmen's Union president says he has never seen the agency in better shape.
Pillar three
With the slow zones gone, riders collectively save 2.4 million minutes every weekday. The state values that at nearly $1 million a day, or about $300 million a year. On the Red, Blue, and Orange lines, on-time arrivals went from roughly 1 in 4 in November 2023 to about 9 in 10 in 2025.
Pillar four
He rides the T to work every day, starting with his first day on the job. When he sees a burned-out light or a spill, he calls it in. He hands out googly-eyed train stickers to riders. When commuters gave him a standing ovation, he said it left him humbled. Well, we're not done. We think he needs a statue.
Numbers
Every figure on this site is traceable to a public source.
View sources →The proposal
One bronze figure, slightly larger than life, on Boston Common.
A statue on city land needs approval from the Boston Art Commission. The first step is showing public support, which is what the petition below is for.
Yes. We're a group of riders with a website, and we plan to keep pushing the statue proposal until the city takes it up.
We assume his kids will show him.
Aren't we all?
Central, historic, and reachable by four lines that all run faster than they did in 2022.
We'd like to say thanks while he's still running the T.
Nobody. We're riders, independent of the MBTA, the Commonwealth, and Mr. Eng.
Sign
Add your name to show the city that riders want this.
Send us an email with your name, and your line if you like. We'll add you to the list we bring to the city, and we'll only write back about the campaign, a few times a year at most.
Opens your email app with the message started. The address is hello -AT- friendsofeng -DOT- com if you'd rather write it yourself.
