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.
“…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.