Moulton Statement on MBTA's $24.5 Billion State of Good Repair Backlog

SALEM, MA – Congressman Moulton issued the following statement in response to news that the MBTA needs $24.5 billion to repair the system.

"Today’s announcement by the MBTA is the honest assessment we’ve been waiting for. I thank General Manager Eng for the transparency he’s brought to the T, and I'm confident that he and our new Transportation Secretary are up to this big challenge.

$24.5 billion is a big number, but it’s not shocking given the accumulation of decades of under-investment. Compare that to the $64.1 billion we spend every single year to subsidize driving in Massachusetts, costing each family $14,000 a year. Investing in the MBTA is investing in the future, and it’s critical that restoring “state of good repair” means modern standards, not the century-old standards of slow trains, inadequate and unpleasant stations, and no-faster-than-driving travel times we’ve grown used to.

While other transit agencies are building automated rail with fast trains every minute, we've let ours erode to the point that it's faster to walk in some places. How do we expect to reduce our terrible traffic if you can't even trust your train to not derail or catch fire? Last year, I called for a fundamental change in how the T functions as an organization. This is yet another wake-up call. If major changes are not made, we'll be dealing with the exact same, or worse, issues for years to come. Whether you use the T or not, every one of us in Massachusetts suffers from having a transit system we can’t trust.

This crisis also won’t be fixed overnight. At the same time we solve for the sins of the past, we have to make smarter decisions for a better future. Think about how much we’ve reinvented Logan Airport in the past fifty years, yet most of our subway stations looked better fifty years ago. Rebuilding our system doesn't just mean replacing broken parts — it means investing in new and transformative technology, like all-electric regional rail, North-South Rail, and East-West Rail, and integrating artificial intelligence into operations.”

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