Could a New Signal System Solve Transit Delays with the T?

Riders of the T commonly complain that signal problems regularly interfere with commutes. People are stuck at stations, waiting for the trains to arrive.

Signal issues have continually plagued the MBTA's analog system. One failure among thousands of individual points that connect the system's electrical equipment can cause chaos for commuters.

The MBTA is now confronting this problem with a solution it says will boost the overall reliability of the transit system. By the end of 2026, the MBTA anticipates installing a new digital signaling system on the Red and Orange lines that it says will eliminate up to 70% of failure points. 

These critical infrastructure upgrades were supposed to be completed several years ago. Some signal modernization was completed during the MBTA's ambitious track repair project last year. 

“Now we're over 50%,” said the T's general manager Phil Eng, in an interview with The Boston Globe. Eng said the new digital system can be controlled remotely.

David Byrne, the T's deputy director of signals, told The Boston Globe that the T's new signaling system allows crews to isolate the location of an issue. With the old system, crews needed to comb through hundreds of diagrams “to find the circuits that we need to investigate,” Byrne said.

“Our goal is to get this work done as soon as possible,” Eng explained to The Boston Globe. “It's huge to day-to-day operations.”

The Boston Globe reports that the T has stated it needs $25 billion to repair and replace the system's antiquated trains, signals, and other components. In its proposed five-year capital spending plan, however, only $9.8 billion has been allocated. As a result, many of the T's essential projects are coming up short of the cash needed to complete them.

Currently, $777 million has been designated for modernizing the signal equipment and providing the T with new vehicles to operate on the Red and Orange lines.