The MBTA plans to install about 400 new security cameras at six Red Line stations next year, officials said.
The cameras are planned for Andrew, Charles/MGH, Harvard, JFK/UMass, Kendall/MIT, and Porter stations, T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said Wednesday. The transit agency began accepting bid proposals for the work last week, according to documents from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The installations are part of a previously announced plan to double the number of security cameras across the entire MBTA system — including in stations, trains, buses, and other T facilities — using federal grant money.
The first of the Red Line stations to get the new cameras will be JFK/UMass, where 52 new cameras are set to be installed by late spring or early summer, Pesaturo said. Cameras in the other stations are expected to be installed by next fall or winter.
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The T also recently installed 15 cameras at the new Talbot Avenue Station in Dorchester, and another 15 are being installed at the Morton Street Station. Both stations are on the Fairmount commuter rail line.
"The Red Line and Fairmount Line projects are part of the MBTA's ongoing efforts to standardize security throughout the transit system to ensure that law enforcement personnel and first responders have situational awareness in the event of an emergency or security incident," Pesaturo said.
Cameras have been installed at every subway station for about the past five years. A growing number of trains also have cameras, which are often used for both safety and transit operations.
Grants from the Department of Homeland Security paid for many of the cameras, which have no operational cost associated with them, T officials have said. Over the past decade, that federal agency created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has provided grants to install security cameras at other transit systems nationwide.
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Some, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, have expressed concern over the added surveillance as a potential invasion of privacy.
Matt Rocheleau can be reached at mjrochele@gmail.com.