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NEW BEDFORD — The arrival of the rail to the South Coast was widely celebrated last month, but since opening day, its first weeks have been marked with delays and canceled trains.
This past holiday weekend, with the 250th anniversary celebration of the American Revolution and the Boston Marathon, 10 trips on the Fall River and New Bedford lines (five inbound and five outbound) were replaced with bus service. And earlier this month, WJAR reported people were left “stranded” in Boston after five hours of direct service to the South Coast were canceled due to staff shortages.
Have you been riding the South Coast Rail and want to share your experience? Write to us at tips@newbedfordlight.org.
State Rep. Carole Fiola, who represents Fall River, said she met with MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng late last week to discuss the delays and disruptions to service.
To “maintain reliability for riders and ensure adequate staffing levels,” some trains were replaced with bus service, per a statement from the MBTA. If additional staff became available, the trips would return to train service and riders would be notified, the T said.
Amid these snafus, the MBTA announced it is extending its fare-free weekend service through the end of May as a “show of gratitude.” The free service was initially set to end next week.
“We understand how these changes impact our riders who deserve an appropriate level of service and we want to express our appreciation for their continued support of transit by extending the fare-free weekend travel on this new line through the end of May,” Eng said in a statement. “We are in constant communication with Keolis as they work to address this matter for the long term.”
According to the MBTA, Keolis, the contractor that runs the agency’s commuter rail network, is training additional crews to support the service on the new line. Currently, if a crew member calls out sick or misses their shift, trains may be cancelled if a qualified person is not available to replace them.
Keolis is working to increase the number of “qualified conductors” within the South Coast Rail region, with a plan to reach 65 conductors by early June to increase rail reliability, per the MBTA.
Keolis spokesperson Jake O’Neill on Monday said each train on the Fall River and New Bedford Line requires one locomotive engineer and one conductor, but did not answer a question on how many qualified conductors Keolis has as of this month.
“Keolis is continuing to qualify more train crews on the Fall River and New Bedford Line,” O’Neill said by email.
On job posting sites, Keolis listed openings for conductors, engineers and “roadmasters,” who manage and oversee track maintenance and operations, over the last few weeks.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
To start, I will say that the reporting that was done by WJAR slightly off the mark. I have been riding the commuter rail nearly every day going up to Boston and coming home to New Bedford in the evening. There have been a handful of nights where they have implemented shuttles but there has never been an instance where I’ve seen a situation that would leave people stranded. The commuter rail, at the very least, would bring folks back to Taunton where a shuttle would have brought them to New Bedford. I think the people WJAR spoke were either unaware (which doesn’t make sense to me as the MBTA goes overboard to inform people) or they didn’t want to get off at Taunton and were upset they couldn’t go straight to New Bedford. It feels like fear mongering.
That being said, the amount of times they’ve had to implement shuttle buses IS concerning. I don’t know if its an issue where they simply don’t pay enough for the jobs (which, on that note SRTA seems to have the same problems and can’t keep bus drivers…the amount of stuff they have to deal with does not equate the cost) or if there are people who are unqualified…whatever the issue I hope a resolution is met soon.
Typical this is how the state does business
Get the horse then build the corral
What a joke
This seems like a fair, balanced, and level-headed comment. Thank you. I have used the new South Coast rail once, a couple weeks ago from New Bedford to South Station and back, and I was very happy with the overall experience.
I think the m b t a should pack it up and move on nobody wants them anyway goodby don’t come back thanks
Speak for yourself
I have ridden the FR line twice and had a great experience both times with no delays. Great experience for those who want something new and fun to do.
That is absurd!
Several cities would disagree with this lol.
Dissolve the MBTA?
See if private can do it better./
The train use be private?
What happened…
We rode on Sunday from Fall River and it was supposed to be a shuttle bus but the commuter rail was running and we were only delayedon arrival by about 10 minutes.
I don’t understand, the New Bedford – Fall River extension was delayed two years, in those two years Keolis couldn’t hire staff to handle the additional service that would be needed? The attention has been focused on how the delayed trains and bus substitutions have left a bad impression on the new line riders, but let’s not ignore the fact that this extension has ruined the commutes for the regular Middleborough, Bridgewater, and Brockton riders of the past 27 years. Day 1 – the new schedule had the first train arriving 10 minutes later in the morning to Middleborough than the former Lakeville train – which was the end of the line. Keolis is leaving a VERY bad impression on the Middleborough-Lakeville riders of the past 27 years. Adjusting the fall schedule is the first start. This is not working. I ride the train 5 days a week – from Middleborough. This is a complete disaster. Also – are you ever going to start collecting fares? The Zone 8 monthly pass holders feel like we are subsidizing the line.
My first attempt at a train ride to Boston yesterday to watch the Boston Marathon failed. When I arrived at the platform, none of the passengers were able to agree upon the which schedule controlled for the day, The train arrived at the station late, then went out of service. There is no MBTA representative on site to inform anyone. It seemed a bit like a cruel joke to me.
The reality is from a long time friend and former senior executive of commuter rail is that the first day of rail service was a dark day for Massachusetts. What he means by that is the cost of running the service verses the number of people it services is incredibly out of whack. He says that the MBTA would have been far better off giving uber rides to commuters verses running the service. Keolis is slow in hiring because of the budget issues.
The foreshadowing of that rainy Monday of the first trains out of NB couldn’t have been more accurate. What gets me is they had 2 years of additional delays and 6 weeks of actual service where the trains ran with a full compliment of staff to ensure they had all the bugs worked out. They didn’t carry passengers but stopped at every stop. I’d like to know how many of those trains didn’t run or run on time. As someone else had said it’s odd that people were quoted as being stranded for 5 hours in Boston when the MBTA has a pretty good way of letting people know what’s going on. What I find poor is that there’s no one at the New Bedford station to answer questions should they arise. The rail is 40 years too late in my opinion. It’ll be a side excursion at best and no way reliable on a regular basis for some time to come. I feel bad for the folks in Lakeville that had their schedules messed up. There’s really no excuse for that.
Well I have commented on this massive waste of taxpayer dollars before. I mean who is dumb enough to accept that a 90 minute plus minute ride one way is worth it…….when it works.
Southcoast, between commuter rail and dumb wind power you are not gaining anything. You are simply being played by the electeds that do not have enough clout on Beacon Hill. Its all headlines and taxpayer waste only.
Seems like NB Light of late is the pied piper of MBTA complaints and kvetches.One the champion of rail service to Boston after decades of cultural educational and employment opportunity to say nothing of the tourist connex it has lately become a collection agency of customer complaints for every little glitch that the NEW SERVICE has which affects every new rail link.Oh boo hoo cry me a river some people who NEVER had rail service for decades had to take a bus shuttle because the FREE weekend service was swamped w riders..thats a GOOD THING..In retrospect Keolis probably should have delayed launching the rail service until previously announced like June 1 giving crews a chance to train rather than satisfy South Coast impatience.Also to .Middleboro
complaining Jane you had rail service long b4 rest of South Coast that our tax dollars subsidized and you are a tenth of Taunton Fall River and New Bedfords size ..finally it would be better for NB LIGHT to embrace and hail our link.out of geographical Apartheid than to complain about initial problem startups
.thanks
I have ridden it twice once inbound we had a 20 minute delay at the Taunton station other than that it was a wonderful way to get into the city and to be able to explore Boston without the hassle of parking or driving
With all the delays getting the rail service operating, there should be no staffing issues. There was plenty of time to hire, train and have everyone ready on day one. A good paying job to stuff a slip under a seat. I blame the contractor who dropped the ball. Will it get resolved? Only time will tell.
I don’t even understand what the goal of the train was. Seems like all it’s done is raise rent. Most people I know didn’t even want or care about it.
New bedford politicians and downtown seemed to think New Bedford was suddenly going to become an economic powerhouse again. It isn’t happening.
New Bedford is trying so hard to push out the poor people here it’s crazy.
The train has been running for a month.
New Bedford has been going downhill for years.
Higher rents reduce crime, increase quality of life.
What should change?
Nothing?
The NB train is not working properly. I live 2 minutes from Church St station and travel into boston multiple times a week for work. I still drive to Lakeville, as do many NB residents.
*Every other NB train has a drop off in Taunton (that sucks), rather than a direct train to Boston. Direct train to Boston is fine…the drop off in Taunton is the problem. First trip, on my way home from Boston, I got dropped at Taunton and waited over half hr for the train to pick me up and bring me to church street station. What happens when its zero degrees out? Guess what…you are stuck on the platform freezing your tail off with nowhere to go. All NB trips should be straight to Boston, forget the Taunton drop off. Thats nothing but trouble.
Thats why your daily NB commuters will drive to Lakeville. Its a shame, but it is the most reliable, quickest method back and forth. Its too bad too..
**need express trains..Braintree, Quincy, JFK have the red line and every commuter rail stop at those stations. There should be certain trains that pass over those three stops, will probably save 10-15 minutes
The MBTA has been plagued with poor management for decades. The Union wages, benefits, and over-the-top retirement programs are unsustainable. The service in greater Boston has been slowed / disrupted due to track conditions, and new track sections built to the wrong scale that had to be torn up and reset! That’s an inexcusable error. all these issues coupled with free-fairs on many roots makes the whole system a huge burden on the taxpayers of Massachusetts. The new line to New Bedford and Fall River will fail if the service is not reliable enough for the working people commuting to Boston. It won’t meet the number of sustainable ridership needed to be a successful route.
That train is a JOKE
I had a very positive experience using the Southcoast line from Fall River on Monday to cheer on the runners. My advice is not to listen to or rely on other passengers for accurate schedule info.
It’s experiencing growing pains, which is normal on a new line. However, staffing shortages out of South Station also occur these daze on other lines, resulting in cancelled trains, especially during rush hour.
I have taken the train from New Bedford to Boston four times now and have not had any problem. Each time was on a weekend.
Four round trips now, rush hour.
None more than 20 minutes late.