Overview
- On Oct. 23, the MBTA Board accepted $850 million in Commonwealth Transportation Fund bond capacity after MassDOT approved the transfer, expanding the agency’s credit for capital work.
- The financing is earmarked for four projects: a battery-electric bus maintenance facility at Arborway to support about 200 buses, Green Line Type 10 power, track, and signal upgrades, procurement of new commuter rail locomotives, and initial work on the Widett Regional Rail layover to support battery-electric service on the Fairmount Line.
- Officials emphasized this is borrowing authority rather than cash, describing it as a critical step toward delivering improvements in safety, accessibility, and reliability.
- MBTA staff warned of an imminent risk of locomotive shortages and said roughly 50 locomotives must be replaced over the next five to ten years to sustain current service levels.
- Even with the added capacity, the T faces an estimated $24.5 billion state-of-good-repair backlog and potential cost pressures from inflation and tariffs.