This week, under a party tent on City Hall Plaza, the MBTA has been inviting riders to tour a life-sized mockup of its new Green Line "Type 10" light rail vehicles, which will increase passenger capacity and improve accessibility when they arrive in 2027.
In 2022, the MBTA Board of Directors authorized a $810 million contract for 102 "Type 10" Green Line vehicles. The first "pilot" trains are scheduled to arrive in 2026 for testing, and the new trains will start carrying passengers sometime in 2027, if all goes according to schedule.
When all 102 new trains are delivered – sometime in the early 2030s – the T will be able to retire the line's "Type 7" trains, which were built in the 1980s and 1990s, and "Type 8" trains, built between 1999 and 2007.
Many design features of the new trains are organized around improving the riding experience for people in wheelchairs and people with sensory impairments.
Unlike existing Green Line trains, the Type 10 vehicles will have a "low floor" design, without any steps inside the vehicle.
An "inductive hearing loop" inside each train will let people with hearing aids receive clear announcements above the din of other noises on crowded trains. And large passenger information screens throughout the vehicle will broadcast easy-to-read announcements about service changes, elevator outages, and upcoming stops.
"This is moving the T towards being a fully accessible system," said MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Green Line operators are also excited about the new trains.
"This is basically a better version of the Type 9s, which are made by the same company," Justin Kwiatkowski, a Green Line operator, told StreetsblogMASS on Wednesday (the Type 9 trains, which debuted in 2018 to help serve the Green Line extension, are the newest trains currently operating on the Green Line).
"The cab is spacious, it has great visibility, everything is automated. I'm looking forward to driving them in a few years," Kwiatkowski said.
