The MBTA has named John Dalton, a veteran Chicago transit official with international experience, to pilot the shaky Green Line Extension.
Like all things associated with the Extension, Dalton's compensation is set to be ample and could grow even higher.
According to MassDOT, the terms of the transportation executive's contract call for him to bring home $337,577 a year for five years. A $20,000 signing bonus helped lure Dalton here, and the T's offer of picking up the tab up to $40,000 for moving expenses also couldn't have hurt.
And if MBTA management thinks Dalton does a good job bringing the Green Line extension to fruition, he can be rewarded with annual bonuses of $44,800.
Dalton is taking over the project as it awaits federal approval and major construction in the coming years.
Dalton has managed transportation projects in Dubai and the Chicago's Transit Authority "and will be responsible for managing all aspects of this project as we move it forward," said MBTA Acting General Manager Brian Shortsleeve.
While in the United Arab Emirates, Dalton managed a $7.6 billion road and transportation project.
“John’s experience with large and complex public transit projects is what is needed to drive the Green Line extension forward. He brings a wealth of technical knowledge as well as familiarity with the federal funding processes and the process of engaging with stakeholders which is critical in GLX as it is with everything we do," Shortsleeve said.
It's a project that needs all the help it can get. After falling massively over budget, the future of a redrawn and streamlined plan to extend the streetcar system though Somerville is up to federal policymakers who need to authorize $1 billion in funding before shovels hit the dirt.
MBTA Fiscal Management Control Board Chairman Joseph Aiello said Dalton will "help and re-engage" federal regulators to help accelerate the project.
Adding to the MBTA's service map will cost billions, but the board and Baker especially, are focused on spending just as much on the T's maintenance backlog. The "state of good repair" in infrastructure lingo, the T has over $7 billion in fixes for existing trains, rails, signals, stations, and all the other parts that make up a transit service.
T management rolled out new details on how the T plans to spend the huge amounts of money it'll take to turn around the aging system. A new State of Good Repair Accelerator Organization team will focus on the pipeline that brings T projects from the drawing board to fruition. In the past, the T was too disorganized to even spend as much as it was authorized to.
T officials expect to double spending on capital projects over the next five years, bringing $6.5 billion into the system. This fiscal year alone the T expects to pay out up to $950 million on capital projects.
Another thing the MBTA is struggling to do is come up with new ways to improve service without affecting the bottom line that much. Managers say they can improve rider capacity on the Orange Line by changing how operators shut down the train when it changes direction at the end of the line.
Typically, one motorman shuts down a train when it arrives at Oak Grove, inspects it, and starts it back up at the other side to travel to Forest Hills. MBTA Chief Operating Officer Jeff Gonneville says that by having a second operator begin to restart the train early, they can shave off 30 seconds between trains during peak hours.
"Doing this on both ends, we are confident that we can decrease our headways during the peak by 30 seconds, which may not sound a lot but it's actually about an eight percent increase in capacity of the number of passengers that we can obviously can carry per hour," Gonneville said.
The change comes as the MBTA struggles to keep the aging Orange Line in service before replacement cars arrive. The Orange Line is getting a $150 million dollar overhaul to make the 37-year-old cars last until the new ones roll out in early 2019.
