The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to study and identify current and future Commuter Rail needs and improvements as part of the MBTA’s Commuter Rail Vision.
In launching a Commuter Rail Vision study, the MBTA and MassDOT seek to understand the likely demand for changes to service in order to strategize the best ways to utilize current resources, plan for infrastructure needs, understand potential customer demand, and think about the impact of new technology on transit options. The study’s results will identify the most cost-effective strategy for leveraging the MBTA’s rail network to meet new trends in travel and address the economic growth needs of the Greater Boston region.
The Commuter Rail Vision study is planned to examine a wide variety of topics, such as the type of fleet needed to optimize the existing network and deliver new service, the system upgrades needed to accommodate various service expansions, if some sections of the network should be electrified, and where potential new stations should be located.
The scope of the study will include a review of previous studies and data collection, analysis of the future market, peer market comparisons within North America and Europe, objectives for a 2040 Commuter Rail Vision, identifying potential service alternatives, analysis of operations and the development of a systems simulation model, ridership projections and the operating costs of service alternatives, the capital investments needed to support these alternatives, stakeholder engagement plans, final recommendations, and an implementation plan.
This study, led by the Office of Transportation Planning and supported by MBTA Railroad Operations, is proposed to take place over 2-2.5 years with project funding of $3 million from the MBTA Capital Budget. The MBTA expects to award a contract to the winning bidder of the RFP in September 2017 with the study anticipated to begin several weeks later.
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