MBTA's South Coast Rail commuter line finally begins service for southeastern Massachusetts
The MBTA's long-awaited South Coast commuter rail line finally began service Monday. It connects a large part of southeastern Massachusetts with South Station in Boston for the first time in 65 years.
Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford were the only big cities within 50 miles of Boston that didn't have a commuter rail line to Boston, according to the state.
The line begins with two branches, one in Fall River and the other in New Bedford, which link up at a new station in East Taunton.
From there, the South Coast Rail joins onto the exiting Middleboro-Lakeville line, which has been renamed the Fall River-New Bedford line. That will still end at South Station.
The trips will take riders about an hour-and-a-half to get from end to end. There are some schedule adjustments, and you can find them on the MBTA's website.
The Middleboro-Lakeville station has been renamed Lakeville station. The T said regular commuter rail service will move to the new Middleboro station on Grove Street starting Monday. The Lakeville station will now be used only for seasonal CapeFlyer trains.
In addition to Middleboro, the other five new commuter rail stations are East Taunton, Freetown, Fall River Depot, Church Street, and New Bedford.
South Coast Rail free for March
To celebrate, the MBTA said all trips starting from any of the six new stations on the South Coast Rail will be free for the rest of March. Weekend rides and parking will be free until April 27.
"This has been years and years and years in the making," Quincy to New Bedford commuter Jules Wang said.
"It's just so much less stress. You know, I still have to take a couple of T trains when I get there, but it's so much less stressful," said Middleboro resident Jennifer Bryant.
Bryant is excited that the train will be free, as she is a government employee who has to start returning to the office.
"I can sleep on it. I can do work on it," Bryant said.
"Driving is terrible. Parking's free for two months," said commuter Mike Kelley. "So, give it a shot."
The MBTA hopes to get on a regular schedule where the trains will run every 70 minutes on weekdays and every two hours on weekends.
Gov. Healey rides South Coast Rail
Governor Maura Healey and transportation officials took a celebratory ride with commuters on the new South Coast Rail from Fall River to Taunton on Monday. She held a news conference at the Taunton station after the ride-along.
"It's an awesome day. Not just for the South Coast, but for Massachusetts because it shows what's possible. It shows we can actually do hard things. We can deliver on transformative things and God knows there's enough that we need to do to deliver for residents in this state," Healey said.
