(SOURCE: Nicole Dungca, The Boston Globe)
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority plans to spend an
estimated $451.3 million to install technology meant to prevent
accidents such as
the Amtrak derailment that killed eight people in Philadelphia in May.
The
fiscal control board that oversees the agency on Monday voted 4-0 to
approve the contract to install what’s known as “positive train control”
on all commuter rail lines that don’t already have it. The technology
is designed to automatically slow trains on certain stretches of track.
The project could mean weekend shutdowns for commuter rail lines
starting in March 2017 and continuing into 2018. Officials said the
shutdowns would accelerate installation and save money.
MBTA
officials said they expect the project to be complete in 2020, making
the agency among the last major railroads across the country to install
the federally mandated technology.
The increased costs come as
transit advocates are already worried about fare hikes and are urging
that they be kept to a minimum.
MBTA officials made it clear Monday that the costs will become a
burden for the agency. Gerald Polcari, chief procurement officer for the
MBTA, called the federal law requiring it an “unfunded mandate.”
“Do we have the funds for this?” he said. “No.”
The law requiring the technology was passed in 2008, and it was
thrust into the spotlight this year when an Amtrak train derailed while
traveling too quickly over a curve, killing eight people and injuring
about 200 others. The National Transportation Safety Board said that
positive train control could have prevented the accident.
Under
the 2008 law, transit agencies had to finish implementing the
technology by 2015 — yet so many cash-strapped agencies were behind that
Congress recently passed an extension.
Positive train control,
which must be installed on trains, tracks, and signals, is not new to
the MBTA. Amtrak installed the technology on the Northeast Corridor
tracks that run from New Haven to Boston, which includes the MBTA’s
Providence/Stoughton line, according to David Diaz, a vice president
with LTK Engineering Services, a firm helping the MBTA with the project.
But the system has 12 other commuter lines operating without the new technology.
The
installation contract represents $338.5 million of the overall $451.3
million cost. The T will also need an additional $112.9 million for
consultant services; financial support to help Keolis, the commuter rail
operator, with the project; MBTA staff support; and contingency costs.
The
additional expenditure comes as the governor-appointed control board
figures out ways to cut costs and increase revenue. The agency spends
nearly $2 billion annually and recently estimated it would take about
$7.3 billion to fully upgrade its trains, tracks, and other
infrastructure.
To fund the positive train control work, the MBTA
plans to borrow federal money through programs created to finance
projects. One of those programs, the Transportation Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act, would cover about a third of the costs.
MBTA officials said they could look into a combination of loans, as well
as using other internal funds.
The costs will continue to grow
once the technology is installed. According to officials, Keolis would
need to spend about $12 million a year to maintain the technology.
Asked
whether the extra costs will affect Keolis’s contract, company
spokeswoman Leslie Aun directed questions to the MBTA. Agency officials
did not immediately comment.
State Representative William Straus
of Mattapoisett, who is cochairman of the Legislature’s transportation
committee, said the large cost of the project shows how much the MBTA is
in need of substantial investment.
“I think it’s going to be a
challenge for the administration to come up with a financing plan if
they limit themselves to simply changing operations and looking for
efficiencies,” he said. “They’re good things, but I don’t think it will
find you the kind of money that the system needs.”
In December,
the MBTA’s control board will lay out a plan for closing its deficit,
which will include cost controls and possibly fare increases.
Such
hikes have worried transit advocates, several of whom on Monday urged
the fiscal control board to raise fares by no more than 5 percent.
Rafael Mares, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, said
he believes a state law allows the MBTA to increase fares by 5 percent
every two years, at most.
But state transportation department
lawyers and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack note that the
language of the law says the MBTA can increase fares only every two
years or only at a rate of 5 percent annually. They believe that means
the MBTA could hike fares by 10 percent every two years.
That interpretation is also supported by key legislators, including Straus.
“I
don’t think there’s any indication whatsoever that that’s what they’re
thinking of, but that’s the size of the ballpark,” Straus said.
Also
on Monday, MBTA officials said they are hiring a company to find out
why the agency spends about 1.7 times more on bus maintenance than the
average spent by other large urban public transit systems.
Officials
revealed the agency spent about $40.81 per hour on maintaining its
1,060 buses in 2013. That compares with an average of $24.32 for 71
other public transit agencies in urban areas, according to the National
Transit Database’s 2013 figures.
The 2013 figures were the most current available.
The
MBTA’s chief administrator, Brian Shortsleeve, called the differences
between the agencies “stark” but said the MBTA is not yet ready to
propose ways to drive down the costs.
