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Earlier this month the MBTA and Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the operations and maintenance partner for the MBTA’s Commuter Rail, announced completion of a project to replace over 28 miles of rail on the Fairmount Line., a short section of the MBTA Commuter Rail system that roughly parallels the main track alignment that brings trains from Franklin and Providence to South Station. The work prepares the Fairmount line for the introduction of battery-electric trains in the coming years The announcement also noted that the project alone replaced more rail than is typical across the entire Commuter Rail network in a year.
Wow, what's that all about?
Well, it turns out that back in July 2024, the MBTA Board of Directors, apparently responding to political pressure from Boston, approved a Keolis proposal to electrify the Fairmount Line with battery-electric trains. If battery-electric trains sound unfamiliar, it's no wonder. Almost all of the world's trains run on either diesel power or electric locomotives that pull power from trackside infrastructure, typically an overhead line. That's how Amtrak's Acela operates.
Battery-Electrics, like electric cars, must carry all their electricity in the form of batteries, which are heavy, so heavy that the tracks have to be stronger just to support them. And, at least some railroad industry sites, suggest that battery-electric locomotives don't do well pulling loads up any significant grades. Theoretically, they can be adapted to electric operation -- someday.
So, the MBTA is now stuck with locomotives that can only operate on one small part of the system and nowhere else. And they require separately trained maintenance crews. And, they aren't the long-term solution anyone wants, which is to electrify the whole system.
Dumb and dumber. But officials and, ultimately, voters, keep greenlighting silliness at enormous costs. The new track cost $12 million. Sadly, it's just a down payment on making the system less reliable and permanently more expensive.
