Alstom and Barletta to upgrade signaling systems on Boston’s Red & Orange subway lines

4 March 2019 - Alstom and its partner, Barletta Heavy Division, have signed a contract under which they will partner to upgrade and modernize the signaling systems on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Red and Orange subway lines, thereby improving service reliability and capacity. The contract is worth over €80 million.

Under the scope of the project, Alstom will provide Orange and Red line signal upgrades, comprising the latest generation of digital audio frequency technology, and the replacement of the existing relay-based train control with Alstom’s iVPI (integrated vital processor interlocking), the latest generation of microprocessor-based train control interlocking.

Alstom will also supply its AFTC5 track circuits, the latest in digital signaling technology, designed with the capacity to add additional speed commands in the future to take advantage of improved performance of the MBTA fleet.

Finally, Alstom will provide its new Model 5F wayside switch machines and LED signal upgrades to the Southwest corridor of the Orange line, as well as a new, fully wired central instrument houses at Ashmont station and Columbia Junction on the Red line.

By upgrading the signaling systems on the Orange and Red lines, which total 72 kilometers and encompass 41 stations, MBTA will be able to reduce headway between trains, increase the lines’ capacity and maximize fleet performance. The project is expected to be completed in 2022.

“Along with our partner, Barletta, we are honored to have been selected by MBTA to contribute to the increase in capacity and reliability of Boston’s Red and Orange lines,” said Jérôme Wallut, Senior Vice-President of Alstom in North America. “We are very pleased to be part of this project and to support MBTA in their efforts to deliver the transit system that MBTA customers and the Greater Boston community expect.”

Alstom’s centers of excellence for transit signaling in Rochester, NY, and Bari, Italy, will provide engineering, product development and project management support, while its product manufacturing sites in Grain Valley and Warrensburg, MO, and Hornell, NY, will produce the switch machines, interlockings and track circuits. Alstom’s other ongoing projects with MBTA include the modernization of 86 articulated light-rail vehicles for MBTA’s Green Line, the overhaul of 74 bi-level MBTA commuter rail cars, onboard signaling for the new subway fleet procured by MBTA, several other signal upgrade projects on MBTA’s commuter rail system, as well signal upgrades at MBTA’s Wellington Yard.