BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and its contract commuter rail operator, Keolis Commuter Services, have announced schedule adjustments on the Fall River/New Bedford Line and three routes, effective July 21. The changes on the South Coast Rail route and the Greenbush, Kingston, and Providence/Stoughton lines are intended to improve reliability.
The Fall River/New Bedford Line was plagued by reliability issues after its opening in late March, attributed primarily to a shortage of crews qualified to operate on the new 37-mile extension [see “After first-month issues …,” Trains News Wire, April 26, 2025]. “Despite some early challenges, Keolis and our union partners have made significant progress on crew qualification,” the company said in a press release, “and no weekend Fall River/New Bedford trains have been cancelled due to crew availability in over nine weeks.” The new changes, meant to improve on-time performance, include elimination of the JFK/UMass stop for midday and evening trains. Two late-night shuttle trains will also be eliminated, and departure times throughout the day will be adjusted.
Changes elsewhere include an additional morning inbound train on the Greenbush Line; minor midday schedule changes on the Greenbush and Kingston lines, and an additional stop for one Providence/Stoughton train (No. 824, an 8:08 a.m. departure from Providence) at Hyde Park to accommodate Fairmount-area passengers during Fairmount Line construction in preparation for the introduction of battery-electric trainsets [see “
The adjusted schedules will be available soon on the MBTA website.
Still no ridership figures on the South Coast extension.
If this service has bombed out (and we don’t know if it has or hasn’t), then MBTA will most likely give up on restoring the Stoughton – Taunton gap, connecting the South Coast to NEC and Back Bay Station.