MBTA, MBCR gearing up to improve winter transit

Boston T riders frustrated by the impact of New England weather on train service may have less reason to worry this winter.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company will collectively invest $1.3 million in snow-fighting equipment for Boston-area rails this season, MBTA officials said on Wednesday.

The announcements came at a panel held to discuss preparations for the upcoming winter weather and the future of the MBTA Commuter Rail. It convened in response to a report about the challenges facing the MBTA that the A Better City organization published earlier in November.

In order to keep train service reliable during the winter months, the MBTA will eliminate short-turns and place spare equipment and train crews along heavily used rail-lines, MBTA general manager Jonathan Davis said.

Last winter, more than 25 percent of all commuter rail trains arrived late because of stormy weather, ABC officials said. But this year, transportation officials said that the MBTA has been working to address those delays.

“We are prepared for this coming winter,” Davis said. “We hope to and expect that we will be able to provide the type of service that our customers are expecting.”

In addition to technical changes, he said, the MBTA will upload up-to-date train schedules to its website when severe weather affects the regular timetable.

The ABC, according to its website, is an independent organization that seeks to improve Bostonians’ quality of life by addressing city transportation, land development and environmental policies.

The ABC identified the coming winter months as a critical period for effecting change in the MBTA in its report. The current commuter rail contract with the MBCR will expire in June 2013, according to the report, and the contract has already come under scrutiny this year.

The MBTA lost over $50 million between 2004 and 2008 in its contract with the MBCR because of contract breaches and “inadequate oversight,” according to the ABC report.

“Most passengers already benefit from a good service, but we do need to do better,” Davis said.

More than 70,000 riders use the commuter rail each weekday morning, and most riders use the rail by choice, opting to leave their cars at home and commute by train instead, according to the ABC report.

Wintertime modifications to the train system will come despite the MBTA’s climbing debt, officials said at the meeting.

The MBTA faces a $160 million deficit headed into 2012, ABC president and CEO Rick Dimino said at the panel.

“The MBTA’s focus, regardless of the direction we take, is service quality. Safety is the number one priority,” Davis said. “We must provide consistency in service delivery – that is our goal for this year and into the future.”

In the face of the MBTA’s fiscal challenges, officials said that the organization has three options. The MBTA can create another short-term contract, internalize operations within the T or plan for a long-term public-private partnership, officials said.

Transportation officials at the panel focused on the third option.

Contracting some operation and maintenance responsibilities out to a private company over a longer period of time could spur investment into the entire transportation system, according to the ABC report.

“[Private contracting is] about getting stability of service and giving the government greater leverage over the private sector,” said Joseph Aiello, the CEO of Meridiam Infrastructure’s North American division.

“In order to get this system up to speed, it’s going to need reinvestment in old fashioned civil infrastructure, systems, power, communication systems, rolling stock, etc.,” Aiello said. “And that’s really something that the community and the public sector needs to step up to the plate to do.”

However, officials said that pursuing a long-term public-private partnership would not instantly solve the MBTA’s problems.

The MBTA’s future will depend on the public’s willingness to invest adequate resources to maintain and grow a sustainable transportation network, officials said.

“With [these challenges] facing the system, we have to collectively work together to address that financial challenge and the age of the infrastructure,” Dimino said.