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South Coast Rail sets service kickoff date
After a series of delays, the South Coast Rail is set to open for passengers next month, ahead of its most recent projection of opening in May.
The MBTA announced Friday that its South Coast Rail would begin passenger service next month, extending commuter rail access to Taunton, Freetown, New Bedford, Middleboro, and Fall River for the first time in 65 years.
South Coast Rail:
Passenger service, which kicks off March 24, was initially slated to begin in late 2023 when the project broke ground in 2019, but has been repeatedly delayed.
Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford are the only major cities within 50 miles of Boston that do not currently have access to Boston on the commuter rail, and when the South Coast Rail opens in March, it will connect southeastern Massachusetts residents to Boston in a “one-seat trip” for the first time since the late 1950s.
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To create the South Coast Rail, the MBTA extended the existing Middleborough/Lakeville Line, which will be renamed the Fall River/New Bedford Line.
The MBTA said there will be 15 trips on the Fall River Line and 17 trips on the New Bedford Line each day, for a total of 32 trips between South Station and East Taunton daily. It estimated trains will run every 70 minutes on weekdays and every two hours on weekends, when there will be a total of 26 trips between South Station and East Taunton. The last trains will leave just before midnight.
“The people of Taunton, Freetown, New Bedford, Middleboro and Fall River have been waiting for passenger rail service for far too long,” said Governor Maura Healey in a statement.
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She said the rail will “reduce congestion and spur economic development.”
Fares for all South Coast Rail stations will be priced in Zone 8, a full fare of $12.25 and a reduced fare of $6.
As part of the commuter rail’s “all day service model,” shuttles will also run between each terminus point and East Taunton Station, allowing for more frequent service.
“We continue to improve mass transportation across our networks to make it the preferred choice of travel,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng in a statement. “Delivering new rail service to the communities as part of South Coast Rail is another example of our workforce fulfilling commitments made to the public.”
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