Massachusetts struggles to remove snow after massive storms

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts officials called out National Guard troops on Tuesday to help dig out from a trio of massive snowstorms that have hit the state in the past two weeks and warned it was unclear when Boston's transit system would reopen.

The head of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority defended the decision to shut Boston-area subways and rail service as schools remained closed across much of the area. Officials warned that the weight of the snow could result in roof collapses.

Some 500 National Guard troops were to deploy across eastern Massachusetts to help clear the roughly 6 feet (2 meters) of snow that has fallen in the past two weeks, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told reporters.

"We need to get the commonwealth back to work and we need to get our kids back to school," Baker told reporters, adding that his counterparts in New York and Vermont had agreed to lend heavy equipment to help with snow removal. Baker also said he had approved the purchase of two snow melters capable of melting 120 tons of snow per hour.

Beverly Scott, general manager of the MBTA transit service, said she had no choice on Monday afternoon but to order all rail services shut down, an announcement that came right before the evening rush hour and a few hours before the 7 p.m. shutdown.

"Everyone who needed to have information, to our knowledge, had it with regard to the conditions we were facing," Scott told reporters, visibly angry about criticism of her handling of the storm. "We do not control Mother Nature."

Limited bus service continued on Tuesday but Scott said it was too soon to say when full transit services would resume on the system, which carries about 950,000 riders on a typical weekday.

Baker said officials at the MBTA, nicknamed the "T," needed to refine their planning to cope with future storms but declined to answer questions on whether he had faith in Scott's leadership.

"I'm not going to have any comment on any of this until we have a chance to have a direct conversation with the T about why they did not live up to the representations they made to us and to others over the course of the past week," Baker said.

Commuters expressed exasperation at the shut down, intended to allow crews to clear snow from above-ground tracks after three trains loaded with commuters were evacuated due to snow-related troubles.

"I was surprised at the MBTA shutdown. You can't just shut down the city," Ariel Freiberg, 32, of Somerville, said as she waited at the main train station for an Amtrak train to New York. The Amtrak service was running at full capacity despite the MBTA's shutdown.

Heavy snow on tracks had caused trains to lose contact with the electricity-carrying third rail across the system's 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) of tracks, prompting the shutdown, Scott said.

'DOESN'T MAKE A LOT OF SENSE'

Nearby, 49-year-old software engineer Steve Holmes questioned the decision to shut the trains when the city is struggling to clear roads before another expected snowstorm on Thursday.

"They're asking people not to drive into Boston, yet they?re shutting down the trains. It doesn't make a lot of sense," Holmes said.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh began talks with the city's teachers union on how to make up some of the eight school days canceled so far this year due to the repeated storms that have hit the region in the past two weeks.

This has been the area's snowiest 30-day period on record. Much of eastern Massachusetts has received more than 6 feet of snow so far this year, making for the ninth snowiest winter on record.

The repeated snow days were taking a toll on parents. Kelsey Wirth, 45, a climate change activist who works out of her home, said she was running out of ideas to occupy her 8- and 9-year-old daughters.

"Work never ends. Even if Boston shuts down, life goes on," Wirth said. "When I heard school was closed again, I said, 'OK, today is project day,'" referring to lining up chores for her children.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Barber; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Trott)

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