The MBTA and Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the operations and maintenance partner for the Commuter Rail, will implement minor schedule adjustments for four Commuter Rail lines to improve reliability for passengers, particularly on the new Fall River/New Bedford Line. The updated schedules will take effect on July 21 for the Fall River/New Bedford, Greenbush, Kingston, and Providence/Stoughton Lines.
Over the past few months, service in the new Fall River/New Bedford area has seen steady improvements, and these adjustments are designed to make even further progress, especially with on time performance. Despite some early challenges, Keolis and our union partners have made significant progress on crew qualification, and no weekend Fall River / New Bedford trains have been cancelled due to crew availability in over nine weeks
On the Fall River/New Bedford Line, midday and evening trains will no longer stop at JFK/UMass, which will improve travel times for passengers. JFK/UMass passengers may take the Red Line to connect with Commuter Rail service at South Station or Braintree. Two late-night shuttle trains, one from Fall River and one from New Bedford, will no longer operate in order to decrease the number of late-night train movements. Finally, departure times will be adjusted throughout the day to improve resiliency.
On the Greenbush Line, a new morning peak train will be added arriving at South Station at 9:43 a.m. Midday trains on the Greenbush and Kingston Lines will also see minor adjustments to departure times.
On the Providence/Stoughton Line, train 824 will now stop at Hyde Park to accommodate passengers in the Fairmount area during ongoing construction on the Fairmount Line that includes replacing tracks to prepare for the introduction of battery-electric trains and making other station improvements.
The updated schedules for the July 21 adjustments on the Fall River/New Bedford, Greenbush, Kingston and Providence/Stoughton Lines will be available soon at mbta.com/cr.
-via Press Release
