Pushing back on federal transportation officials who recently questioned the MBTA ’s safety, T General Manager Phil Eng said last week the agency has “made significant strides” to become safer and more reliable.

Eng’s Oct. 2 letter came in response to a missive from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, who threatened to revoke federal support for the MBTA if the T did not take action to enhance safety and curb crime. Duffy specifically cited a Sept. 8 incident during which a 63-year-old woman was violently shoved off an MBTA bus in Roxbury.

T leaders “sincerely appreciate” the Trump administration’s “interest in and concern for public safety on the MBTA’s transit network,” Eng told Duffy, though he defended the agency’s track record.

“Our work is never done, but the result

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