The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority expects to cut its projected fiscal 2017 operating deficit by 43%, to $138 million from $242 million, it said Monday.
Officials of the "T," as the state-run system that operates the Greater Boston mass-transit system is known, plan to spell out details of the $104 million in savings during a meeting of the MBTA's Fiscal Management and Control Board, established last year. They cited continued reductions in overtime spending and other costs, and increases in revenue such as real estate and advertising, with cost-cutting accounting for 75% of the total.
The T previously announced it would be $75 million under budget by the close of the 2016 fiscal year.
"We're getting our cost growth under control," Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve said in a statement.
The authority said it will use savings to pay for infrastructure improvements, including new third rails for the Red and Orange lines and new heaters for the switches on the Orange. Those two lines broke down repeatedly last winter amid Boston's record 109 inches of snow.
It will also spend $70 million for major signal improvements on the Green, Red and Orange lines, $26.5 million to further winter resiliency work and $3.5 million for track upgrades along the Worcester-Framingham commuter rail line.
Some Green Line switches date to 1915, say T officials. Up to 30% of subway service delays, they added, directly relate to aging signal systems.
The authority has built into budget projections significant new expenses caused by shifting 550 employees from the T's debt-funded capital budget to the operating budget – accounting for $52 million – as well as $12.5 million for scheduled union wage increases for employees and $13 million in higher debt service payments.
