Conceptual designs of potential decarbonized Commuter Rail trains provided by Stadler, Alstom and Siemens in response to MBTA RFIs, as shown in an MBTA board presentation on the Fairmount Line decarbonization pilot. Images courtesy of the MBTA
After years of advocates’ lobbying and promises by former MBTA leaders, the T is set to get its first electrified commuter rail line, serving Boston’s Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park neighborhoods.
The MBTA board of directors voted Thursday to approve a $54 million proposal from Keolis, the French company the MBTA contracts with to run its commuter rail network, to lease new, battery-powered trains for the Fairmount Line and substantially increase service frequency on the line. Keolis will also build a new maintenance facility for the trains as part of the contract.
By using still-new technology battery-powered trains, which will recharge at existing overhead wire infrastructure at either end of trips at South Station and Readville, instead of trains powered by tried-and-true overhead wires, T officials say they hope to dramatically reduce the infrastructure work that would need to go into electrifying the line, an important consideration given the T’s funding challenges. The T also plans to test the new trains on other lines linking South Station and Providence and linking North Station and Beverley that the T has long ID’d as priorities for electrification.
Both types of trains are still able to accelerate much faster and more quietly than the T’s current diesel train fleet, letting the T run trains every 20 minutes every day on the Fairmount Line starting in the first half of 2028.
“There have been discussions about electrifying our rail network for many years. This agreement is a gamechanger that will benefit generations of passengers, beginning first on the Fairmount Line,” MBTA General Manager and CEO Phil Eng said in a statement. “By embracing new technologies, we will be able to electrify the Fairmount Line sooner within our existing available funding. Understanding the billions of dollars needed to fully electrify our entire system, this is the first step that I believe will pave the way to a profound transformation that can bring the future of our rail network that much closer. I thank Keolis, the MBTA’s Rail Modernization and Railroad Operations team, and all of our support groups as we focus on delivering improved service that is environmentally friendly for future generations to come.”
While the T’s subway system still hasn’t recovered its ridership from before the COVID-19 pandemic, the MBTA’s progressive addition of more and more trains to the Fairmount Line between 2006 and this year mean it’s seen a substantial jump in ridership over the same period, and now carries 3,200 people per day on trains that run every 30 minutes. T officials say they expect another big ridership bump when the electrification project ups frequency to trains every 20 minutes.
Even at current frequencies – much lower than the rest of the transit system’s subway lines – affordable housing developers and multifamily investors alike have both targeted the Fairmount Line corridor for new developments and purchases of existing assets in recent years. The Fairmount Line’s stations sit inside or near several of Boston’s planned “Squares+Streets” rezoning districts intended to allow more multifamily housing as-of-right: Clearey Square in Hyde Park and Mattapan Square in Mattapan, plus Codman Square, Four Corners, Grove Hall and Upham’s Corner in Dorchester.
TransitMatters, the watchdog and advocacy group that’s led the charge to turn the MBTA’s commuter rail system into an electrified, almost subway-like network, called the Keolis contract award a major milestone.
“This is the most transformative project in the state because it has the ability to shape the region, address the housing crisis, get more out of our bus network and even add capacity to our core system,” TransitMatters Executive Director Jarred Johnson told the T’s board Thursday. “This has the potential to revolutionize how people get around across Easter Massachusetts…it will be a meaningful down payment on an entirely new regional rail system for the commonwealth.”
Leaders of the Fairmount Indigo Transit Coalition, the community group that’s led the charge since the Patrick administration on improving what was once only a cut-through for suburban trains heading for downtown Boston, praised the move.
“This is a long-awaited victory for the residents along the Fairmount Corridor,” Marilyn Forman, coalition co-chair, said in a statement. “It builds on the success of the new stations and service improvements we’ve achieved over the years. We are committed to ensuring that this pilot is just the beginning of more transformative changes to come.”
Still, not every MBTA board member was thrilled by the process. After Keolis broached its idea for what amounts to an electrification pilot on the Fairmount Line earlier this year, the T gave competing manufacturers four weeks to come up with counter-proposals. Union leader Robert Butler characterized it as rewarding Keolis despite their refusal to strike deals with most of its unions, while developer Chanda Smart said the four-week window “wasn’t equitable” and Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said he thought “we’re going to have little control over the cost of this program.”
