MA: Extreme weather will threaten the MBTA as climate warms. Here’s the agency’s new plan to fight back

The warming climate and extreme weather pose risks to the MBTA’s reliability, from rising sea levels threatening to flood coastal transit stations to heaping snow and extreme cold forcing train cancellations, leaving commuters in limbo.

The frequency of extreme weather, such as the January snowstorm that severely disrupted the T for multiple days, will only increase with climate change, meteorologists warn.

Aiming to fortify the transit network against the changing climate, the MBTA unveiled a plan Thursday to prepare its infrastructure and operations to withstand more severe weather, including flooding, sweltering heat and icy cold.

“Much of our infrastructure wasn’t built for heavier rainfall, more frequent storms, and heat waves — conditions that can cause flooding, damage and service disruptions,” Rebecca Tepper, Massachusetts energy and environmental secretary, said in a statement Thursday.

The MBTA’s plan, known as the “Resilience Roadmap,” will make the region’s public transit more reliable and safe, she said.

The plan highlighted a range of “vulnerabilities” across the MBTA system.

The Green Line tunnels, which carry the oldest subway line in the United States, can grow hot in the summer as outdoor temperatures rise. Worsening heat waves will mean more uncomfortable Green Line trips and a higher risk of heat exhaustion for riders.

When heavy rain pounds Boston, drainage issues can force the T to delay trains or close tracks on some southern sections of the Orange Line, the plan said.

In the future, the MBTA forecasts that North Station, portions of the Blue Line tunnels and the Orient Heights Yard in East Boston will become more vulnerable to flooding from rising sea levels, heavy rain or storm surge.

The same issues could threaten garages for the RIDE paratransit service and bus facilities on the North Shore. Rising seas could also obstruct access to the Long Wharf Ferry Terminal.

The plan released Thursday provides strategies to protect the MBTA’s infrastructure and lower the chances of climate change and extreme weather disrupting bus, train and ferry service.

The MBTA said it was the agency’s first-ever systemwide climate change plan and followed up on its 2024 Climate Assessment report. The plan also supports the state’s ResilientMass program, which helps communities address the cascading impacts of severe weather.

“The MBTA is always looking for ways to proactively address climate resilience,” Phillip Eng, the MBTA general manager and interim state transportation secretary, said in a statement. “Our riders deserve safe, reliable and robust service now and in the future, which is why this Resilience Roadmap is impactful.”

The plan calls for the MBTA to invest in its power system, protect tunnels and stations from flooding, reduce heat exposure for riders and employees, upgrade train tracks and facilities to withstand extreme temperatures and improve the system’s signals and communications systems, among other strategies.

“This work will not be accomplished overnight,” the plan noted.

Of the MBTA’s various infrastructure, its tunnels and power systems are at the greatest risk of the changing climate. Issues with the tunnels and power also would cause the most significant disruptions to riders, the T said.

Officials identified 30 new strategies to address climate change and extreme weather impacts, three-quarters of which they recommend be implemented in the next five years.

In the Blue Line’s Airport portal, which connects the train tunnel to the airport, the T plans to install hinged portal doors to defend from flooding. Without them, flooding could cause “widespread infrastructure, operational and economic impacts across the subway tunnel system.”

The plan cited the state’s 2022 Climate Change Assessment, which found that “by 2030, the average summertime temperature will feel like summers in New York; by 2050, like Maryland; by 2070, like North Carolina; and by 2090, summer in Massachusetts could feel like summer in Georgia today.”

The 2202 report noted that in Greater Boston, there may be four times as many days above 90 degrees by 2030 and nine times as many days by 2070.

High temperatures can also warp train tracks and cause equipment such as train signals, which control train movement, to malfunction.

The MBTA plans to expand shade at stations and bus stops with high heat exposure and install cooling equipment for signals.

The T said it has recently directed $15 million toward the construction of bus shelters and other amenities to protect riders from heat and rain, $10 million toward upgrading pump rooms along the Blue Line to remove water in case of flooding and $1 million from a ResilientMass grant to design flood protection for the Blue Line Airport tunnel portal.

The plan emphasizes the need for continued funding.

The MBTA’s focus is not limited to Greater Boston or coastal areas.

The plan recalled the extensive flooding in the Leominster area in September 2023 when a storm dumped 9.5 inches of rain in 24 hours. Rushing water washed out a culvert and key commuter rail infrastructure. Storms of similar size are projected to become more routine in the coming decades, the T said.

The agency cited the storm as an example of how floods could damage ground-level or raised infrastructure, not only below-ground stations or tunnels.

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