BOSTON — Keolis Commuter Services, contract operator of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, has announced plans to release a Request for Proposals for battery-electric rolling stock later this year.
The new equipment will be used on the commuter system’s Fairmount Line under a plan proposed by Keolis last year and approved by the MBTA board in July [see “MBTA approves plan for battery-electric commuter service …,” Trains News Wire, July 25, 2024]. The plan would see service on the nine-station, 9.2-mile Fairmount line increased from the current levels of diesel-powered service (every 45 minutes on weekdays and every 90 minutes on weekends) to 20-minute intervals on weekdays and 30-minute intervals on weekends. It gives Keolis the right to develop the specifications for the equipment and choose the manufacturer.
Keolis says it will seek “modern multiple-unit type” equipment “capable of operating under the overhead catenary system and via use of on-board batteries,” and anticipates the RFP will be released in December. Expressions of interest should be made to Michelle.Berry@keoliscs.com.
Keolis is in its 10th year operating and maintaining the MBTA commuter rail system.
The locals are CORRECT. The west side of Dorchester is only served by buses and people must travel long distances by bus to get to shopping and jobs or transfer to Orange or Red line trains.
Frankly, 20-30 minute headways aren’t good enough. The Fairmount Line could easily be turned into another rapid transit line.
Good post Michael. I agree. Should be more about frequent local traffic for residents and into downtown, rather than about connection to the network of suburban trains. Silver Line perhaps?????
“…9.2-mile Fairmount Line…” Truthfully, how much to string catenary on ~20 miles of track? With the integrated Airo sets coming to Amtrak in the “near” future a number of ACS-64s will be rendered surplus. The T is locked in on the Rotem multilevel cars currently being delivered (which is not a bad thing). This appears to be a complex solution to a simple problem.
MBTA best rethink the use of battery electrics. The next hurricane which approaches Boston will bring along salt water and salt mist. After the battery electric fires of EVs in Florida this whole thing needs rethinking.
I called BS.Total total total BS. MBTA has been running the Providence line with diesels under Amtrak wire for two decades. Why not buy electric locomotives for the Providence line first? And as I posted a couple of weeks back, electrification could increase acceleration of MBTA locals on a two-track line shaed with much faster Amtrakers.
Charles, the reason that they picked the Fairmount Line first is that it runs through a low-income neighborhood and the locals are complaining discrimination due to the lack of service comparable to what the suburban commuters get.
ROBERT —- Of course people complain. Second tier frequencies compared to, what exactly? I grew up riding the Providence Local. There were no trains at all on the Fairmount Line until a few decades ago. Apparently a holdover for when the main line NEC through Jamaica Plain and Roxbury Crossing was torn out for a total rebuild and Fairmount was the NEC detour..
Daniel Carleton has it right in his post (above).
(1) Electrify the Fairmount Line.
and from me
(2) Run electrics on MBTA trains under existing Amtrak wires on the Providence Line to Wickford Junction in southern Rhode Island.
Oh, BTW, my first time ever flight into PVD Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport, also a stop of the same name for MBTA. While there I did brefly check out the MBTA station. Impratical for aviation due to due to train frequency (weekday rush hour only). But like the Amtrak stop at the airport I flew out of that day (Milwaukee General Mitchell), a south suburban rail stop, not for airline passengers or airport workers. It’s the only MBTA stop in the south suburbs of Providence. Cranston and Warwick are the second and third cities by population in the Ocean State.
During my stint in Charm City it became indelibly clear to me the challenge of operating electrified and non-electrified trainsets. Ideally you want everything the same to maximize utility and minimize maintenance costs. Obviously this flies in the face of efficiency if electrification is available. So, to that end: electrify the Fairmount Line, add overhead where needed for commuter operations on the Providence Mainline and reconfigure operations on the T into three railroads: service out of North Station, conventional service out of South Station and electric service quarantined to the Providence & Fairmount Lines.