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The MBTA is tweaking departure times, cutting late-night trains, and changing the route of one peak trip in a new Fall River/New Bedford Line schedule that will take effect on July 21.
Departure times for most trips will change by at least a few minutes, and in some cases up to 20 minutes. Many trains will leave earlier on the new schedule. Some afternoon and evening trains will leave slightly later than before.
Two late-night shuttle trains will be taken off the weekday schedule. They include a train that left East Taunton at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at New Bedford Station at 12:13 a.m., and another train that left East Taunton at 1:14 a.m. to arrive at Fall River Depot at 1:38 a.m.
The new schedule is online at MBTA.com.
A press release from Keolis, the contractor that operates MBTA commuter rail, said the changes were made to improve on-time performance.
The announcement said the late-night trains were cut “in order to decrease the number of late-night train movements.” State Sen. Mark Montigny, in his own press release, linked the cuts to noise complaints from residents living near the line.
The MBTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the updates, which were posted online Wednesday.
The MBTA giveth, and the MBTA taketh away
The updated schedule includes a new inbound trip that leaves New Bedford Station at 8:20 a.m. on weekdays, getting to Boston’s South Station at 10 a.m. That fills a gap in the current schedule, which has no departures from New Bedford Station between 7:25 a.m. and 9:33 a.m. But it’s not a net gain for the South Coast region — the MBTA will no longer offer an inbound trip that currently leaves Fall River Depot at 8:22 a.m. on weekdays.
Many trips will now skip the JFK/UMass stop, “which will improve travel times for passengers,” according to Keolis.
What the late-night cuts mean for riders
For riders trying to get back to New Bedford, the remaining late-night options will include a train leaving South Station at 9:08 p.m. and arriving at New Bedford Station at 10:48 p.m., or a train leaving South Station at 11:59 p.m. and arriving at New Bedford Station at 1:38 a.m.
New Bedford-bound riders could take the train leaving South Station at 10:35 p.m., which gets to East Taunton at 11:49 p.m. and arrives in Fall River at 12:14 a.m. But they would need to find their own ride back to New Bedford at the end of the night. SRTA’s last intercity bus leaves Fall River at 9:45 p.m.
The MBTA made these changes after a tense town hall with South Coast residents in Fall River. Residents said trains were keeping them up late into the night, and MBTA officials promised to take action.
South Coast Rail got off to a rocky start after opening on March 24 — staff shortages caused widespread delays and cancellations during some weekends in April. But Keolis reported this week that trains have operated without staff-related disruptions for the past nine weekends.
Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org
Editor’s note: This story was modified on Monday, July 14, 2025, to correct the time of a weekend departure from New Bedford Station.
Was excited to take the train home to NB after concerts or events in Boston, but because some old boomers complained about the noise now that isn’t a thing. Can I complain about car alarms? How about the bus announcing it’s routes? Lawn mowers? Insane to me.
Agree!
Agreed!
It is truly astonishing just how much a few homeowners get to run the entire state of things. Since when is this appropriate? Eliminating a segment of public transportation for the entire eastern half of Massachusetts, done in by a few people out of hundreds of thousands. How very dare they! How dare the state senator capitulate in this way! Shame! Shame!
Agree with top commenter that this is extraordinarily stupid… but also couldn’t the MBTA just run a regular old shuttle bus to fill in the gap for the missing train shuttles at the end of the night?
Would add to the overall slow, janky outcome of South Coast Rail that ended up coming to fruition, but a bus would at least allow folks to get back home at the end of the night.
Based on all I’ve heard, and read in in numerous city and town council meetings across the South Coast where the the rail line is located, any shuttles would result in additional costs that will be paid for with ticket price increases, and if there aren’t enough riders in any shuttle from East Taunton, to New Bedford, and Fall River, a shuttle won’t be added.
To the “truly astonished” reader, the noise from all trains running days, and nights, for all the new South Coast rail trips, the “New loud noises” associated with the train, from the loud whistles that can be heard across Freetown, Westport, North Dartmouth, South Dartmouth, and all other suburban towns, and cities now impacted by the new loud noises, the disgusting trash within the wooded areas that are now victims of the same filth that’s overlooked, and not even noticed by the Rail Riders in their daily lives, it’s normal, like the hyperthermic needles, used condoms & wrappers, the endless stream of cigarette butts, etc., etc., the “Sober Houses”, and the homeless drug addicts begging for money at every major intersection in New Bedford, Fall River, and East Taunton, and much more, but these are many of the life changing problems, and daily images, it’s why many of us left the cities for the suburbs as far from these areas as possible, and it’s not just the 62+ year old “Boomers”, it’s also many of us who grew up in the suburbs and won’t leave here for New Bedford even if they were giving away $750,000 homes with $0 annual property taxes. I work with with people from all over the world with new manufacturing process machine installs, repairs, maintenance, as well as associates operating production lines, up to CEO’s and everyone in between who was educated in ” Ohio”, other Midwest, deep south states, from CA, and everywhere in between, many educated in Boston, from computer programming, software engineers, high tech engineers, and much more…..they don’t want to live where the loud train whistles are pulled after 9:00 pm with young children and more.
Don’t forget, the property owners are the tax payers who are forced by the liberal socialist Democrats like Healy to pay more, and more, like the new 4% Millionaire additional penalty for being successful, working hard, it’s also “Wealth Redistribution” by the Democrats in every city and state they can, but year one drove a significant number of Millionaires to NH for a ZERO $ state income tax, , and 2025, 2026, 2027 will drive more away, and MA will lose every tax dollar, including the so called “Boomer” property tax dollar paid, and much, much more, you’ll see when it all unfolds, and the expansion you see today will become a smaller tax base tomorrow.
Don’t forget, we bought our high priced homes in the areas we like that had no South Coast Rail were selected without South Coast Rail noise, traffic, trash, Police, Fire, all first responders with screaming sirens and every other issue.
There’s a reason there was no South coast Rail for 50+ years, and you’ll witness it again in the near future.
Good luck, you’ll need it$$$$$.