Technical Tours 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14

8:30 – 11:00 AM | OPTIONAL TECHNICAL TOUR: SOUTH STATION 

*(repeats Wednesday) Advance registration is required

Air Rights Development Tour

• By offering air rights development at South Station, the MBTA has leveraged their considerable real estate asset in Downtown Boston to generate revenue for the agency. The South Station Tower project will include 711,500 gross square feet of office space and more than 166 condominium units.

Tour Elements:

• Tour the current construction site
• Review Tower Plans
• MBTA/ Keolis discussion about managing service during construction and the partnership (Rich Murphy)

Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control (CETC) Center Tour

• Visit the South Station Dispatch Theater. Shared by the MBTA Commuter Rail (operated by Keolis) and Amtrak, CETC controls not only all train movements between Boston and New Haven Connecticut, it also controls the high speed trains on the North East Corridor via ACSES, and also the electrical loads and electrical distribution associated with the Amtrak electrified train system.

Tour Elements

• Short presentation on the Northeast Corridor Dispatch and the partnership between the MBTA and Amtrak
• Walk through in small groups of the dispatch center itself while it’s in operation

Boston Landing (This supplement is available Monday only, departing from South Station

• Boston Landing is a mixed used development in Boston’s Brighton Neighborhood encompassing more than 15 acres of land along the MassPike. This new development site is the home of New Balance’s world headquarters, the practice facility for the Boston Bruins, and thousands of square feet of new housing and office space. The whole project is anchored by a newly construction Commuter Rail station.

Tour Elements

• Review the Boston Landing Zoning and community plan
• Visit Bruins practice facility
• Tour new station
• Equipment Demonstration on Platform 13

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16

8:00 AM          We’ll resume the program over a full, hot breakfast, followed by Panel Sessions and Fireside Chats

Noon               Luncheon Speaker

1:30 – 5:00 PM     TECHNICAL TOURS

*Advance registration required

• MBTA NORTH STATION, or
• MBTA SOUTH STATION (repeated from Monday)

MBTA NORTH STATION

• Fare Gates
• In October of 2022 Keolis installed fare gates at North Station as part of a robust program dedicated to improving fare collection. Two years later, MBTA has seen a substantial increase in fare collection; projects to install fare gates at Back Bay and South Station are now well underway.

Tour Elements:

• Presentation on how the gates work, their design and lessons learned from the project team
• Recap of public reception and the roll out plan
• Update on their effectiveness

Lynn Temporary Platform

• As infrastructure ages, agencies are often faced with the challenges of how to maintain service while undertaking critical repair efforts. The temporary platform at Lynn Station is an example of a quick construction platform that was designed to be built quickly and effectively, using readily available and even recycled construction materials.

Tour Elements:

• Tour the existing temporary platform
• Review the design of the temporary platform

NOTE: this station is only two stops away from Historic Salem Massachusetts and this is a great opportunity to catch a train up to Salem following the tour

Iron Horse Park Dispatch Center

• In 2023 the MBTA opened a new dispatch center at Iron Horse Park. This new facility was purpose built specifically for train control operations. This dispatch center is currently home to the Dispatch for MBTA Commuter Rail, which also dispatches the Amtrak Downeaster Service, making it the dispatch center for all major passenger rail in New England North of Boston. Ultimately this site also hopes to house the dispatch operations for CSX and Berkshire & Eastern, meaning that about 2,000 rail miles in New England will be dispatched out of this facility.

Tour Elements:

• Visit the dispatch center in full operation

Some other historical buildings and destinations

MBTA SOUTH STATION

Air Rights Development Tour

• By offering air rights development at South Station, the MBTA has leveraged their considerable real estate asset in Downtown Boston to generate revenue for the agency. The South Station Tower project will include 711,500 gross square feet of office space and more than 166 condominium units.

Tour Elements:

• Tour the current construction site
• Review Tower Plans
• MBTA/ Keolis discussion about managing service during construction and the partnership (Rich Murphy)

Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control (CETC) Center Tour

• Visit the South Station Dispatch Theater. Shared by the MBTA Commuter Rail (operated by Keolis) and Amtrak, CETC controls not only all train movements between Boston and New Haven Connecticut, it also controls the high speed trains on the North East Corridor via ACSES, and also the electrical loads and electrical distribution associated with the Amtrak electrified train system.

Tour Elements

• Short presentation on the Northeast Corridor Dispatch and the partnership between the MBTA and Amtrak
• Walk through in small groups of the dispatch center itself while it’s in operation
• Equipment Demonstration on Platform 13

*schedule is subject to modification.