MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

DBM said:
Wondering why the MBTA's institutional culture/posture seems to draw inspiration from the Kremlin circa 1936... might as well be asking why the sky is blue.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/22/business/mbta-commuter-rail-contract-bidding-keolis/
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Ehh it's honestly pretty common that sending the full RFP is restricted to only the RFQ or prequal'd respondents for business / bidding purposes. They did it for Type 10 procurement, for one example. Not giving it to the Globe when FOIA'd is a little weirder.
 
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Stlin said:
Ehh it's honestly pretty common that sending the full RFP is restricted to only the RFQ or prequal'd respondents for business / bidding purposes. They did it for Type 10 procurement, for one example. Not giving it to the Globe when FOIA'd is a little weirder.
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In Massachusetts, public project requests for proposals (RFPs) and bids are generally kept confidential until the bids are opened or the contract is awarded, depending on the specific procurement statute (such as M.G.L. c. 30B or c. 149A). Once proposals are opened or a contract is awarded, they become public documents subject to disclosure under the Massachusetts public records law, regardless of whether they contain trade secrets.

Basically it is the law to keep the RFP confidential during the bidding process. It protects the integrity of the bidding process and prevents collusion. It also protects the confidentiality of the Q&A between the Commonwealth and the bidders that often accompanies the RFP/bidding process (and often involves bidder confidential information).
 
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JeffDowntown said:
In Massachusetts, public project requests for proposals (RFPs) and bids are generally kept confidential until the bids are opened or the contract is awarded, depending on the specific procurement statute (such as M.G.L. c. 30B or c. 149A). Once proposals are opened or a contract is awarded, they become public documents subject to disclosure under the Massachusetts public records law, regardless of whether they contain trade secrets.

Basically it is the law to keep the RFP confidential during the bidding process. It protects the integrity of the bidding process and prevents collusion. It also protects the confidentiality of the Q&A between the Commonwealth and the bidders that often accompanies the RFP/bidding process (and often involves bidder confidential information).
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So I think both of us likely do some work in gov contracting, but I'm admittedly mostly on the side of those items typically procured only under the UPA, so I'll disclaim too much familiarity with any of the other sections.

I think we're perhaps speaking past each other a little, so I'll clarify - I agree that it's typical and legal process to keep the bids and proposals themselves sealed, until either the bids are opened or awarded, as you mentioned. Since this is a 2 part procurement with an RFQ prequalification stage, I'd say that its expected that the RFP would typically only be provided to those prequalified bidders. even if it includes "learnings" from the RFQ stage and takes into account information from prospective bidders, anything in it will have been handed to all qualified bidders. and my understanding is that there's a defined Q&A period prior to submittal that is typically "face up" - I believe common practice is for everyone's to be shared with all bidders. Absolutely the actual proposals themselves, and once they're opened the evaluations leading into BAFOs and the negotiations themselves should be confidential until an award decision is made, and even after are occasionally published redacted of sections respondents would have had to specifically disclaim as proprierary/confidential. but what the Globe wanted here wasn't the proposals from the respondents - its the RFP that was issued by the MBTA.

See MGL Ch 4, § 7 c. 26(h) - proposals and bids, but it's notably silent on the RFP itself, which in other chapters like 30A is specifically called out to be publicly available. That RFP is effectively a statement of the T's requirements it wants a prospective operator to meet, and there really should be no confidential information in that document, since it's been provided to all qualified bidders, written by the public agency, and can't be revised after closing. In the single phase procurements I'm more used to, its just about the core public facing document posted for transparency's sake leading into a procurement. Even if you're not a qualified bidder, and any bid you make would be rejected, my experience is that anyone should be able to see the plans and specifications and end up on the plansholder list. (Some security exceptions apply).
 
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Stlin said:
So I think both of us likely do some work in gov contracting, but I'm admittedly mostly on the side of those items typically procured only under the UPA, so I'll disclaim too much familiarity with any of the other sections.

I think we're perhaps speaking past each other a little, so I'll clarify - I agree that it's typical and legal process to keep the bids and proposals themselves sealed, until either the bids are opened or awarded, as you mentioned. Since this is a 2 part procurement with an RFQ prequalification stage, I'd say that its expected that the RFP would typically only be provided to those prequalified bidders. even if it includes "learnings" from the RFQ stage and takes into account information from prospective bidders, anything in it will have been handed to all qualified bidders. and my understanding is that there's a defined Q&A period prior to submittal that is typically "face up" - I believe common practice is for everyone's to be shared with all bidders. Absolutely the actual proposals themselves, and once they're opened the evaluations leading into BAFOs and the negotiations themselves should be confidential until an award decision is made, and even after are occasionally published redacted of sections respondents would have had to specifically disclaim as proprierary/confidential. but what the Globe wanted here wasn't the proposals from the respondents - its the RFP that was issued by the MBTA.

See MGL Ch 4, § 7 c. 26(h) - proposals and bids, but it's notably silent on the RFP itself, which in other chapters like 30A is specifically called out to be publicly available. That RFP is effectively a statement of the T's requirements it wants a prospective operator to meet, and there really should be no confidential information in that document, since it's been provided to all qualified bidders, written by the public agency, and can't be revised after closing. In the single phase procurements I'm more used to, its just about the core public facing document posted for transparency's sake leading into a procurement. Even if you're not a qualified bidder, and any bid you make would be rejected, my experience is that anyone should be able to see the plans and specifications and end up on the plansholder list. (Some security exceptions apply).
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I always thought that they maintained confidentiality of the RFP during the bidding process, because for a complex bid it is typically not a static document. It undergoes revision based on feedback from the qualified bidders. But much of that feedback is considered confidential (until the winner is announced), so the RFP access is restricted, as it is modified, to the qualified bidding pool. Once the bid is awarded (or times out) all the documents become public in MA (not true in all states).
 
New special-paint unit dropped on rehabbed GP40 #1131 (renumbered to 1776). . .

714611511_1296484712643411_8259840129791694985_n.jpg


It's designed as an homage to the bicentennial scheme that Boston & Maine RR did in 1976 on a GP38.
 
www.boston.com

Framingham/Worcester Commuter Rail line delayed after cargo train derails

One train had to be cancelled, and several others experienced delays of up to an hour, according to the MBTA.
www.boston.com
A derailed cargo train blocked traffic and caused delays Tuesday evening for passengers on the Framingham/Worcester Commuter Rail line.
The train derailed at the Framingham MBTA station, blocking the nearby crossing at the intersection of Concord Street and Waverly Street, police said at 3:45 p.m. on Facebook. As of 5 p.m., the crossing was cleared and reopened, but the commuter lot remained inaccessible.
The derailment delayed trains running in both directions, and Train 1561, scheduled to run to Framingham from South Station at 4:55 p.m., was canceled. Train 559, scheduled to run to Worcester, was rescheduled to replace it and made all local stops along the Framingham route, the MBTA said on X.
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stick n move said:
Jeeeesus
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And they're still serving fewer commuters and losing more money per trip even with sold-the-hell-out overpriced WC runs because of all the equipment that had to be raided and all the other systemwide schedules that had to get hosed to make this happen.

^Those^ lines are the equivalent of regular commuters who'll be taking cars on match day today because they had their usual transit taken away.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
And they're still serving fewer commuters and losing more money per trip even with sold-the-hell-out overpriced WC runs because of all the equipment that had to be raided and all the other systemwide schedules that had to get hosed to make this happen.

^Those^ lines are the equivalent of regular commuters who'll be taking cars on match day today because they had their usual transit taken away.
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There's no reason why they can't run regular service during the AM commute. Today's game isn't until 6.
 
jklo said:
There's no reason why they can't run regular service during the AM commute. Today's game isn't until 6.
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They don't have the space or switcher equipment to pry apart and recombine sets during the service day, especially on the southside. So they're short several dozen cars and a half-dozen locos right off the rip. The cancellations span all-day because they're completely structurally unable to adjust. And they partially span the whole week, even on non-game days, because they're so very much structurally unable to adjust.
 
jklo said:
There's no reason why they can't run regular service during the AM commute. Today's game isn't until 6.
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The first train for that game is scheduled for 12PM. They can't have consists all over the place and of various odd lengths collected, deconstructed and recombined in time for the 15 minute departures happening throughout the afternoon.
 
I don't think people will drive... either suck it up or maybe take a vacation day. I looked at the Worcester Line schedule and peak didn't look too far off from the regular schedule tomorrow.

Definately BS that the MBTA agreed to do this.
 
I know we are train heads, but the T is a function of the state government, the state government wanted the world cup to happen, I think it is more of an embarassment if 20k scots are left trying to uber to the stadium all at once rather than commuters endure more of their regular indignity...
 
I took one of the trains to the Scotland v. Morocco game on Friday, and figured I'd give a review for those of us who have had to suffer with the cuts to regular commuting schedules. I can't speak for everyone but my journey there and back was actually quite pleasant with no hiccups.

We were in boarding group E (last group). There was basically no line on Summer St up to the security checkpoint. Plenty of signage and gaggles of T volunteers telling people where to go, when to activate their tickets, etc. We waited for probably 10 minutes under the South Station arches, then they let us through to the train. Our train left promptly at 3pm and we were in the stadium by 3:45.

The way home was a bit of a longer line given there were no boarding groups but the line moved pretty quickly - I'd guess we made it on the second or third train back to the city. Roughly about a 20 minute wait to get back on. While the train to the stadium seemed to have seats for everyone, the train home was notably more full with lots of standees. Again a smooth trip though all things considered. The comms team was definitely nervous about people missing the last train back, I received SEVEN emails throughout and after the match warning me that the last train home would be at 11:45pm.

Got a couple of barbs from Scottish folks about the state of our infrastructure talking about how our rolling stock is old and all their trains are electrified (I didn't correct them to say only roughly a quarter of track in Scotland is indeed electrified). They were headed down to Miami this week so I wished them luck on getting to Hard Rock Stadium down there!

TLDR: A smooth experience, I am glad to have the rail infrastructure we do have even if I want it to be better.
 
Having been to Glasgow, while it has a rather miniscule transit system, Scotsrail operates an incredibly dense Regional Rail system... As in, much of it's got denser stop spacing than it's subway. If the sister cities thing includes how to railroad, it's not a bad example.
 
Got a couple of barbs from Scottish folks about the state of our infrastructure talking about how our rolling stock is old and all their trains are electrified
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My weekly trip home from NYP to BOS included a large group of Scots that boarded the OG Acela at PVD, unaware that their MBTA tickets were not good for that train. The conductor was very gracious and let them ride all the way to BOS without only a slight admonishment and a much more cheerful welcome to the US.

Since they sat in front of me, I was able to overhear their many comments about the overall poshness of the seats, with the softness, leather, and level of recline seeming to be very popular.
 
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