MBTA announces South Coast Rail opening date - Trains returning after 65 years!

This week the MBTA finally announced the opening day for their new South Coast Rail lines. The long awaited project is less than two months from reopening after 65 years!
For those who don’t know the South Coast Rail Project is a major commuter rail project in Massachusetts. It is finally reconnecting three Southeastern Massachusetts cities with passenger rail, long after the last New Haven commuter trains left the station decades ago. The cities of Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford, Massahcusetts last had regularly scheduled commuter rail service to Boston in September 1958. Included in the South Coast Rail project are two lines, the one to Fall River and the one to New Bedford. The lines diverge at a point called Myricks Junction in Berkley, MA which is just south of Taunton. North of here the line connects with the already operational Middleboro/Lakeville Line which South Coast Rail is temporarily an extension of. Included on these lines are new stations in Middleboro, Taunton, Freetown, Fall River, and two in New Bedford. New Bedford includes Church St. Station and New Bedford Station which is on the waterfront. For the historians two of these platforms have been built on the same sites as where two of the stations were historically, those being Fall River and New Bedford stations. Be on the lookout for future videos specifically on those stations.
The MBTA will be running multiple trains a day with a 90 minute ride from the South Coast cities to Boston. The New Bedford light reported “Exact schedules are still being fine-tuned. Officials say they plan to run trains about every 70 minutes on weekdays, making 17 trips per day between New Bedford and South Station. Trains will run about every 120 minutes on weekends. There will be late-night service, with the last southbound trains leaving Boston around midnight”. Fares are set at $12.25 each way but there will be reduced fares of $6 for certain riders. The trains are set to start moving passengers on March 24, 2025. Previously the MBTA was reporting an opening in May so this early opening date is welcomed. Stay tuned for more updates as the MBTA prepares to reopen these lines!
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©2025 South Coast Rail Videos

[@ASHMONT1757]

Yay❤🎉 & Wondering the new project going to start

[@joshbenton4080]

That's awesome news!

[@rrad8106]

YEAH!!!!

[@BG-sl9lv]

wow!

[@fredjacobs]

Awesome!

[@JoshL_76]

Extending the Stoughton line is still the plan, long term?

[@Marbleheadjed]

Awesome
They should have a party !
Rates aren’t bad either

[@FrederickCAycottJr]

Great video South Coast Rail. But the last minute of the video, MBTA should double track it here, and put another station stop on the other side, to keep trains moving.

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

Yeah. They do have some future plans for old colony double tracking, but it’s still pretty far away. The middleboro line is the best set up for double tracking, only problem is Quincy Center..

[@opensourceeverything]

90 minutes is crazy. It takes half that to drive from FL to Boston. Sounds like it would've been faster if they just reopened the track between Attleboro and Tauton that used to be used for Amtrak's Prov -> Cape Code service. At least then you could catch a faster train on the NEC.
Did they explain why it'll take this long?

[@opensourceeverything]

*edit: FR, not FL

[@NormanJaquemotRebel]

Any plans to re-open to Riverside?

[@JoshL_76]

Apparently the plan is to extend the Stoughton branch and head down that way, enentually. Using the CSX tracks from Attleboro to Taunton would be another ideal adition though

[@opensourceeverything]

@NormanJaquemotRebel up until ~2006, a single track from Providence to Riverside along the bay was still intact but inactive. Soon after, the East Bay Bikepath was extended northbound, running beside the now abandoned tracks. Parts of the track is still visible today (a small segment from Boyden Heights to Kettle Pt), but considering that just about all of the former right of way is now the bikepath, it would be impossible to rebuild.

[@opensourceeverything]

@JoshL_76 the extension from Stoughton station to FR/NB was the original route proposed for South Coast rail back in the 90s. However, it would run through the Hockomock Swamp. A lot of people argued that the swamp was a delicate ecosystem that would be thrown out of balance by diesel fumes. Likewise, if the state plans of running trains along that route, they'll need to be electric. This is the pan for phase 2 of the South Coast Rail project, whose completion is scheduled for 2030. This transition to electric - along with rebuilding the parts of the line that have disintegrated - will be quite expensive, with estimates from the 90s putting it at $3 billion. Considering how long phase ii ran, I'm doubtful we'll see it any time soon, if it even secures the funding. If the MBTA can't even electrify their trains on a corridor that already has overhead cables, I'm doubtful that they'll build a new railroad over a swamp and electrify it in the next 5 years. That said, I'd love to be wrong. It would be one of the most scenic commuter rail routes in MA.