BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority could become the second transit agency in the U.S. to operate battery-electric commuter trains under a proposal put forth by its contract operator, Keolis, to increase service on the MBTA’s Fairmount line.
Bid solicitation documents posted Friday on the MBTA website seek a fleet of battery-electric multiple unit trainsets to operate on the nine-station, 9.2-mile Fairmount line, offering service every 20 minutes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on weekends. That would be a significant increase from current operations with Keolis’ standard diesel-powered commuter trains, which run every 45 minutes on weekdays and at 90-minute intervals on weekends.
Streetsblog Mass originally reported the proposal.
The MBTA document accompanying the bid solicitation calls for the equipment to be in service by the end of 2027 and says it would offer benefits including “zero own-source emissions,” operational flexibility allowing pilot usage on other MBTA lines, limited lineside infrastructure needs or requirements for track outages for construction; high reliability “which eliminates the single-point-of-failure found with catenary-only systems;’ shorter trip times, and better ride quality.
Keolis would develop specifications for the equipment and select a manufacturer. It would manage other aspects of the acquisition including construction of a maintenance facility for the new equipment, necessary related infrastructure work, and hiring and training of staff.
The “due diligence posting” indicates the MBTA is prepared to accept the Keolis proposal but is soliciting bids to determine if other companies are interested. Responses are due by April 12.
Chicago’s Metra announced in February that it had signed an agreement with Stadler U.S. for construction of at least eight battery-electric trainsets for use on a portion of its Rock Island District [see “Metra signs deal with Stadler …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 21, 2024]. Plans are to use that equipment, at least initially, on the 16.4-mile Beverly Branch service — like the MBTA’s Fairmount Line, a relatively short route by commuter rail standards.
Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski emphasized the pilot nature of that project in an appearance before Northwestern University’s Sandhouse Rail Group later in February [see “Metra project underway …,” News Wire, Feb. 28, 2024]. ““The idea is to get them up here. Let’s put them into minus-10 degrees … let’s figure out this battery technology and let’s get this to the point where in the future, at some point in time people say, well, that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
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