MBTA Opens State-of-the-Art Training Facility

The MBTA has unveiled a brand new emergency training facility.

The MBTA Emergency Training Center is an underground facility located near the Broadway T Station in South Boston.

The facility contains multiple training areas dedicated to different modes of transit including heavy rail, light rail and bus, according to an MBTA press statement.

The facility also has full-sized decommissioned bus and rail vehicles and a control room that can simulate audio and visual effects of a real-time emergency situation.

“The MBTA Emergency Training Center will enhance the MBTA’s ability to prepare for emergencies more realistically, frequently, and with fewer service or cost impacts,” according to an email by Joe Pesaturo, MBTA spokesman.

The facility opened as a streetcar station in 1917, but closed two years later due to redundancies. Since, the unoccupied space has been used for everything from material storage to growing mushrooms, according to the statement.

The facility was fully funded by a Department of Homeland Security grant.