The U.S. Department of Transportation will provide the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) with a $851.15 million loan, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Tuesday.
The loan, provided under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program, would be spent on the Train Control Implementation and Rehabilitation Project in New England.
“This federal investment of $851.15 million will enhance safety on one of the busiest commuter railroads in the country,” Chao said.
MBTA is the largest transit provider in New England and will be installing train control technology across its entire commuter rail network. The project includes installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) across the rail network’s entire system. PTC systems prevent trains from being routed through misaligned switches, protect trains from colliding with other trains, reduce derailments related to speeding and prevent trains from moving through failed or inoperative grade crossing systems.
The project would also install Automatic Train Control (ATC) systems on the 170-mile North Side Commuter Rail lines, as well as expand the buried fiber optic cable network that covers the entire MBTA commuter rails signaling system, in order to increase the systems resiliency.
MBTA is the fourth-busiest commuter rail in the country, after New York’s, Chicago’s and Washington, D.C.’s systems. MBTA rail lines go as far south as Providence, R.I, as far north as Newburyport, Mass. and as far west as Fitchburg, Mass.