MBTA, VRE extend Keolis rail contracts

Following last week’s five-year extension to the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) contract in the Virginia and Washington D.C. area, Keolis received a four-year extension from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on its commuter rail contract to operate and maintain trains in the Boston region.

Keolis Commuter Services (KCS) has been the MBTA’s contracted commuter rail operating partner since July 2014, when KCS began providing all mechanical, transportation, and engineering services in the Boston region. The network, which features 14 lines, 139 stations, and approximately 400 miles of tracks, carried 36 million passengers in 2019.

On June 15, the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board unanimously awarded KCS a four-year extension to its current commuter rail operating contract, thereby exercising the full term of the contract option. The contract, which was due to expire in June 2022 will now run until June 2026.

Additionally, Keolis has been operating the VRE on behalf of the Northern Virginia and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation commissions since 2010. Earlier this month, the VRE operating board awarded Keolis a five-year extension to its current contract to operate the commuter rail in Central and Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area. The contract, due to expire in July 2020, will now run through July 2025. It is Keolis' second extension of the contract.

Since beginning operations in 2010, Keolis has not only implemented customized, individual safety training for each employee that has seen no lost time employee injuries for the past four years, but also driven ridership on VRE which was operating 32 daily trains with approximately 20,000 riders per day in March 2020. With the extension, Keolis’ focus on delivering safety and driving ridership continues alongside a further focus on lifecycle maintenance and extensive rolling stock repair.