Red Line MBTA

A Red Line subway pulls into Boston's Park Street Station.

(Garrett Quinn, MassLive)

BOSTON - With the Red Line MBTA operating with delays so severe on Tuesday that officials were encouraging people to use alternative modes of transportation, Gov. Charlie Baker said he hopes litigation is resolved so that new Red Line train cars can be built.

Yet with any new subway cars still years away, Baker said he plans to meet with Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack in the coming weeks to figure out how to deal with transportation funding.

"I'd like to have a conversation with the secretary once it stops snowing," Baker said.

The MBTA was operating with major delays Tuesday due to snow and frigid temperatures.

Baker, speaking at a press conference called to address budgetary issues, said the biggest problem with the MBTA service is "the utility and availability of a variety of trains." "A lot of those trains, some of them date back all the way to blizzard of '78 - 40 years of service, pulse or minus," Baker said.

Baker noted that under former Gov. Deval Patrick, the MBTA put out a bid for companies to build new Red and Orange Line MBTA cars. CNR Changchun Railways won the bid and plans to build a factory in Springfield to manufacture the cars. But losing bidder Hyundai has sued the MBTA and others. "My hope is the litigation ends quickly enough to be able to get on with the process of replacing old trains," Baker said.

Even if the litigation is resolved, the subway cars are not expected to be delivered until 2018, with the final cars completed in 2021.

Baker was also asked about his opposition to gas tax indexing, which was repealed by voters in November but would otherwise have raised new money each year from the gas tax for use on transportation infrastructure. Baker said he did not oppose a 3-cent gas tax increase in 2013, but he believes the legislature and governor should be responsible for any future tax increase. Baker has said he will not support any further tax increases. He has said he wants to put $25 million more a year into the operating budget for the next four years to fund transportation repair projects.

Baker acknowledged that Red Line service has been "terrible." On Monday, a third rail froze, suspending Red Line service during the evening rush hour and stranding some people on a disabled train for two hours.

Baker is cutting about $40 million in state funding from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation as part of an attempt to fill a $768 million budget gap. That is expected to come primarily from job vacancies, combine with higher than expected fare revenues, according to Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore.

Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) said he anticipates there will be continued discussion over how to fund public transportation. "It's a very expensive undertaking. It's the oldest system in the country. It requires a lot of resources to just maintain it," Rosenberg said. "The transportation agenda is far bigger than the public's appetite to fund it."

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) called the MBTA situation "deeply concerning." "If we expect people to rely on it, we need to make it reliable," Tarr said.

This story has been updated to add comments from Rosenberg and Tarr.

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