BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will launch South Coast Rail operations — serving a group of southeastern Massachusetts communities that have been without passenger rail for 65 years — on March 24, 2025, the agency announced today.
The start date — two months ahead of the most recent timeline, which called for service to begin in May — is pending final approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.
The project, an extension of the current Middleborough/Lakeville Line, adds 37 miles to the MBTA commuter rail network and includes six new stations. It addresses the lack of rail service for Taunton, New Bedford, and Fall River, the only three major cities within 50 miles of Boston that do not currently have commuter rail service. When the extension opens, the Middleborough/Lakeville Line will be renamed the Fall River/New Bedford Line.
“The people of Taunton, Freetown, New Bedford, Middleboro and Fall River have been waiting for passenger rail service for far too long,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a press release. “… We’re thrilled to soon be launching South Coast Rail service, which will make it easier for South Coast residents to get around the state, reduce congestion, and spur economic development.”
Service plans call for 32 trains on weekdays between South Station and East Taunton, with 17 continuing on the New Bedford Line and 15 on the Fall River Line. The MBTA anticipates trains will run every 70 minutes. On weekends, there will be 26 trips between South Station and East Taunton, with trains running every two hours. The schedule will include late-night service, with the last train leaving Boston just before midnight. Trips from the two endpoints will take about 90 minutes; tickets to all the new stations will be $12.25, or $6 for those qualifying for reduced fares.
“The MBTA is proud to be in this position, working collaboratively with the Federal Railroad Administration as we now seek their approval to begin passenger train service at the end of March ahead of our May target,” said MBTA CEO Phillip Eng. “This will allow communities in Boston, southeastern Massachusetts, and many in between to connect by train for the first time in decades. We sincerely appreciate the patience and support from stakeholders and community members as we performed train testing and conductor training.”
The MBTA will hold the latest in a series of public meetings on the new service on Feb. 10 in Freetown. This follows earlier meetings in Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford.
More on the South Coast Rail project is available here.
One assumes (but I’ve never actually heard or read) that Old Colony refers to the Plymouth Colony on the South Shore. If I recall high school history lessons, Plymouth predates the Bay Colony (up in B&M Corporation territory) by ten years.
The Boy Scout organization for the South Shore and the southern suburbs was (at the time, no longer) called the Old Colony Council. We wore that insignia on our scout uniforms. The council’s summer camp was lost in the pine woods of Plymouth, which is the largest (by area) of the 351 cities and towns.
My home had a very old map of Boston. The Dorchester road named Morrisey Boulevard in our time was labeled Old Colony Traffic Route on that map. Before the I-93 Southeast Expressway, this was the road from Boston to Quincy.
Single track on the Old Colony between South Bay in Boston to Braintree severely limits service on the Greenbush, Kingston (and the dormant branch to the northern edge of Plymouth and Middleborough. It may not be possible to provide service on frequencies hinted at in the article without severe cuts to Greenbush and Kingston services. The MBTA failed to purchase more flexible DMU (and EMU) cars when renewing the commuter rail fleet. DMU cars could conceivably be operated as combined trains that could be split or combined at Braintree. It will be expensive to add a second track to the Old Colony line paralleling the Red Line because of poor station siting decisions. If the Old Colony were to be electrified with more frequent service, MBTA Red Line service between Quincy Center and Braintree could become redundant if frequent electrified commuter rail trains operated on the Old Colony. The JFK/UMass Red Line station would require restructuring to accommodate cross-platform transfers. The overly complex designed flying junction serving the Ashmont and Braintree Red Line branches of the Red Line could be relocated south of Savin Hill station where the tracks diverge. Nothing is likely to happen without a strategic plan for the Old Colony corridor.
CLARK — Always good to hear from someone who knows the Red Line and the Old Colony. To clear up what may be confusing to non-Bay Staters, in the third line of Clark’s post there should be a close parenthesis after “Plymouth”.
What you’re proposing, Clark, is longer trains (DMUs) that would split at Braintree. The unfortunate irony is, the longer trains wouldn’t fit into the passing siding at North Quincy. (I can’t say how long the platforms are at JFK, Quincy Center, and Braintree stations are.)
One final note from me, my brother’s cremains rest in a flower bed alongside the combined r/w at Wollaston (Quincy). I couldn’t have scattered them anywhere else.
At least it only took a couple of years to say they can complete it two months ahead of the last projected date, we’ll see!
The last passenger trains left South Station for Fall River and New Bedford on Sept. 5, 1958. They went via Stoughton, which would be the new end of the line. This was part of the discontinuance of passenger service on the New Haven’s Old Colony Division, with the big cut coming on July 1, 1959.
To add to Michael’s post, the Old Colony generally means trains through Quincy and Braintree. These do not serve Back Bay Station in Boston. As Michael points out, lines in the Taunton area connect the two divisions, the Old Colony and the Boston and Providence (today’s NEC). CSX freights (from Selkirk, New York) and MBTA commuter trains both thread this convoluted group of tracks.
There are a couple of gaps in the former New Haven maze: Stoughton to Taunton is awaiting a rebuild. Foxborough to Taunton has been obliterated thrugh Mansfield, which is why CSX freights detour on NEC via Attleboro.
Following the “big cut” which Michael mentions, the Old Colony r/w through Quincy was removed for construction of the Red Line subway. Wisely, MBTA left room for a single track for future commuter Old Colony trains, which today is heavily used. There is a short MBTA-length passing siding at Norfolk Downs in northern Quincy.
Laurence — Until recently it was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Now it is known as Rhode Island.
In answer to the trivia question, the only place in America you can cross a state line into a county of the same name is between Bristol County, Massachusetts, and Bristol County, Rhode Island. Long ago, the towns of Bristol, Warren and Barrington were ceded from Massachusetts to Rhode Island.
Taunton became the county seat of the Massachusetts county, as it had lost its county seat (Bristol) to its neighbor.
The Rhode Island county is best known for the location of Roger Williams University, as well as for being the second-smallest county (by area) in America. Only one of Hawaii’s counties is smaller.
Well, there’s at least two places where you can cross state lines and have the same county name. Kent County, Delaware and Kent County, Maryland adjoin each other.
Let us hope that MBTA is not getting up hopes too soon. The FRA like many other federal agencies is sinking into Chaos. Will the FRA even be allowed to grant approval? I have no idea.
Yes, passenger trains and transit are seen as “woke” and the FRA is part of the “deep state” and both are targeted for severe pruning by the incel gamers and mean girls who run D.C. these days.
Good! Great! Awesome!
Lower-income Bristol County – I never heard the term “South Coast” growing up – didn’t get much respect. Fall River and New Bedford were considered Portuguese ghettos, and as for Taunton, well, it was just there. Good to see the South Coast joining the rest of the Commonwealth with good rail service. Not just a couple of trains per day but a full schedule.
Oh, and Bristol County is the answer to a great trivia question. Does anyone know the question? HINT: Consider a former trivia question, now nullified by events, was this: What state has the longest name? (It no longer does, as the state’s name has changed.)
I think the state was Rhode Island (and Plymouth Plantations) or something like that.