A New Standard Shapes Commuter Rail in Boston

Keolis Commuter Services (KCS), a unit of Keolis North America, has been responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) commuter rail service since July 2014. While statistics support the network’s overall improvement during the past five years in everything from ridership to on-time performance, KCS tempers discussion of its work in Boston with a sentiment rooted in its commitment to continue the improvement efforts: Progress has been made, but there remains work to do.The commuter rail network in July 2014 was not in great shape. There were challenges involving the network’s aging locomotive fleet, infrastructure carried a significant backlog of state-of-good-repair work, staff levels were not ideal and maintenance facilities were not operating seven days per week. Then came the winter of 2015, when the city was clobbered by a series of historic snowstorms that halted operations and found everyone from maintenance...