Cost To Fix The MBTA Now Up To $10 Billion

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BOSTON (AP) — The cost of upgrading the Boston area public transit system's equipment and infrastructure is now pegged at about $10 billion, nearly $3 billion more than four years ago.

The figure was unveiled at Monday's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority meeting.

General Manager Steve Poftak says it's not fair to compare the new number to the older number because they were arrived at using different methodologies.

He says the new figure is "more accurate, precise, and a real assessment of the actual cost to the MBTA."

It accounts for equipment including trains and buses; tracks and power systems; and infrastructure including tunnels and bridges.

The goal is to boost spending on repairs and modernization to $1.5 billion a year by 2023, allowing the agency to take care of the backlog by 2032.