Massachusetts Greenlights 20 Siemens Charger Locomotives, Half of Them Battery-Electric

The MBTA board signed off unanimously on Thursday on a fleet renewal that will finally retire some of the oldest locomotives still turning wheels in Boston. The order: 20 Siemens Charger units, split evenly between ten diesel-hybrid Tier 4 machines and ten dual-mode locomotives that can run on overhead catenary power or on onboard batteries.

That second batch is the headline. Ten battery-capable transit locomotives will be the first of their kind for the authority, and they arrive against a hard deadline — the current roster is running out of road.

Why the clock is ticking

MBTA vehicle engineering chief William Wolfgang told the board the need is immediate, not theoretical. Thirteen GP40 units have already outlived their useful service life, and the F40s will hit their own end between 2029 and 2035.

Order at a glance: 20 Siemens Charger locomotives · 10 Tier 4 diesel-hybrid · 10 dual-mode battery/catenary · $310.4 million total · first deliveries 2029 · full fleet in service by end of 2030

The money side is settled: **$310.4 million** for the package, covered by a mix of state and federal funds, including a recent $200 million transfer from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The contract also holds an option for further locomotives, though board members did not dig into those terms during the meeting.

The less glamorous problem: cab cars

Battery locomotives are only half the puzzle. The authority still has to figure out how existing cab cars — the unpowered coaches that let trains run push-pull — will control the new electric units. Wolfgang said that work will involve railroad operations, engineering, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and will likely come back as a change order once design review gets underway.

Trackside charging infrastructure is the other open item. Going electric on a commuter railroad means power where the railroad actually runs, not just at the terminal.

Siemens’ growing rail book

The Charger platform is not a prototype story anymore. Siemens has put 440 hybrid and battery-electric Charger locomotives into service around the world so far, which gives the MBTA a proven design rather than a science project. Delivery of the Massachusetts units starts in 2029, with the full 20 expected in revenue service by the close of 2030.

For riders, the practical payoff is a fleet that stops depending on half-century-old hardware. For the region, it is a test case: how quickly a legacy commuter rail operator can move from diesel-only traction to something that draws power from the wire — or carries it onboard.