The Rail and Transit Division provides oversight and manages funding for all 15 Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs), offers several competitive grant programs, and manages freight, passenger, and seasonal rail lines across the state. The competitive grant programs offered by MassDOT include: the Community Transit Grant Program, which provides funding for lift-equipped accessible vehicles and technical assistance; and the Intercity Bus Program, which awards subsidy to intercity bus providers operating routes in rural regions in MA. MassDOT owns 14 rail lines (totaling 285 miles of track), 165 bridges, 747 culverts, 314 at-grade crossings, and 12 rail yards, working cooperatively with Amtrak

The Division’s property staff handles Chapter 40/54A administrative hearings to address the use of former railroad property and to ensure the safety of rail travel during new building construction near railroad rights-of-way. Part of this involves the issuance of 50-100 licenses annually to contractors, utilities, cities, towns, and private owners that need access or are working next to right-of-way for construction; the design and appropriate administrative review of this range of licenses requires extensive staff time.

Regional Transit Performance The transit section shares data on the 15 RTAs. RTAs in Massachusetts operate two main types of service: Bus service, which includes regularly scheduled local routes and commuter routes which operate on fixed schedules (referred to as “fixed route” throughout this report); and Demand-response service, which includes federally mandated paratransit service and other dial-a-ride services, whether provided through dedicated transit vehicles or taxi vouchers. This service will be referred to as “paratransit” throughout the rest of this report.