After decades of planning followed by years of delays in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the MBTA's South Coast Rail project opened this morning as the first MBTA regional rail trains departed from new stations in Fall River, New Bedford, and East Taunton.
Dozens of transit enthusiasts and commuters crowded the platform of the New Bedford station in the darkness this morning to catch the first 4:27 a.m. train towards Boston.
Among the first passengers on that first train was New Bedford resident Jacob Hoss, who says he's been waiting patiently for the new line to open ever since he moved to New Bedford 15 years ago.
"The platform was packed. A lot of people were taking pictures and videos. And then there were some people for whom it was just another workday," Hoss told StreetsblogMASS.
"It’s a mix of typical early morning, pre-dawn commuters – quite a few people are taking a nap – but there are a lot of transit enthusiasts on the train, a lot of people seem excited," added Hoss. "I’m riding with my girlfriend who just moved here from Buffalo – she works at one of the colleges in Boston, so she’ll be taking this train almost every day."
A long wait
The last passenger trains to serve New Bedford and Fall River operated under the private New Haven Railroad, which ended service to the cities in 1958.
South coast politicians began advocating for the MBTA to bring back commuter rail service to the region in the 1980s, and after several false starts, construction work began in earnest in 2019.
At a groundbreaking ceremony that year, Governor Charlie Baker told reporters that the new rail line would be open before the end of 2023.
The T initially pushed that date back into the summer of 2024, then, in the summer of 2024, the agency announced another postponement, to the spring of 2025.
However, there's been one silver lining to the delays. Under the T's initial service plans, the agency would have run 14 trains per weekday to New Bedford, plus 12 to the Fall River and Freetown branch.
Under the actual operating schedule that begins today, the T is running 15 direct trains to and from Fall River, plus 17 round-trips to New Bedford.
Additionally, the T is planning a connecting shuttle service between East Taunton and Fall River or New Bedford, with cross-platform transfers at the East Taunton station, so that passengers in either city can get home even when a direct train isn't available.
Governor Healey and senior officials from her administration are also planning to celebrate the new transit line's grand opening this morning.
Governor Healey and General Manager Eng plan to ride the northbound 10:38 a.m. train from Fall River to East Taunton, where they'll meet Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and MassDOT Secretary Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, who plan to catch the 10:43 a.m. train from New Bedford.
At the new East Taunton station, the administration will host a celebratory press conference at 11:30 a.m.
This story will be updated.
