MBTA Chief: Federal Funding Has ‘Continued to Come in’ for Massachusetts

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said the MBTA has not had any federal grants rejected or taken back despite recent developments from President Donald Trump's administration. At the same time, however, Eng warned that tariffs could affect the costs of products that transit agencies around the country purchase.

“We're monitoring the federal dollars. I'm pleased to say right now, with the grants and all of our expected dollars, they've continued to come in. We've not had them rejected or taken back,” Eng said in a statement to the agency's overseers on Thursday, March 27, reported by Boston 25 News.

His report differs from what other agencies and organizations that rely on federal funding have felt recently with spending cuts and eliminated grant programs under Trump's administration.

Eng said his T team will continue to pursue federal funding where available. When questioned about how tariffs that Trump has imposed on several of the country's major trading partners could impact the MBTA, Eng said he recently spoke with several leaders of various transit agencies to discuss the issue “because every one of us is facing the same thing.”

He cautioned that the public transit industry is in a precarious state because only a dozen or so manufacturers can produce a rolling stock of items for trains and buses.

The MBTA currently has contracts with Chinese manufacturer CRRC to develop all-new train fleets for the Orange and Red Lines. In a report earlier in March, Eng said he doesn't believe tariffs on China would affect what the MBTA will pay to CRRC. 

“By the end of this year, we will have all the Orange Line cars that are part of this contract delivered, and right now, we fully anticipate that we will have all the Red Line cars in 2027,” Eng explained in remarks made to Boston 25 News.