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Believe it.
Dozens of people saw the first MBTA commuter rail train pull into New Bedford Station just before 4:27 a.m. on Monday. They heard the conductor shout “all aboard!”
South Coast Rail isn’t a project anymore — it’s a real commuter rail line you can ride.
“I thought this day would never come,” said Rick Platt, a conductor on the 7:25 a.m. train leaving New Bedford Station. It only started to feel real to him when crews began training a few weeks ago.
Trains brimmed with excitement and optimism. Passengers cheered when they felt their train lurch forward toward Boston. Railroad staff passed out pins, magnets, and commemorative spikes like candy. Just to sweeten the celebrations, the MBTA made fares free this week and every weekend through the end of April.
The frustration that the South Coast had built up over decades of delays seemed to fade away.
In one train car, people even broke into song. Train enthusiast Evan Bouwens passed around sheets with original lyrics to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming ’Round the Mountain” on the first train out of New Bedford.
“March 24th of 2025,
The South Coast Rail has finally arrived!
Years in the making, now deliver
To New Bedford and Fall River!
What a day! We’re glad to be alive!”
At a jubilant ribbon-cutting in Taunton, dozens of officials celebrated this day as a triumph. If not for the South Coast’s relentless advocacy, they said, the extension could not have been built.
“Today is more than just your typical ribbon-cutting ceremony,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said to a packed house. “This is a historic milestone for the South Coast.”
For the first time in 67 years, New Bedford has a passenger rail connection to Boston. This project has faced constant stops and starts since it was first promised in the early 1990s. As recently as last spring, it had no official schedule for completion.
A recent timeline had included a May 2025 launch date, but the MBTA beat its own goal by two months.
Virginia Callas, a 98-year-old New Bedford resident, remembered the trains that served the city before the New Haven Railroad stopped running them in 1958. She crossed an item off her bucket list when she rode the MBTA train from New Bedford to East Taunton on Monday.
“I’m just so lucky to be sitting in this train,” she said after finding her seat. “If it doesn’t go anywhere, I’m happy.”
The first three early-morning trains left New Bedford Station right on time, as if they were cruising straight out of New Bedford’s dreams. But delays set in after sunrise. Most midday trains ran slightly late, some as much as 20 to 30 minutes behind. Times mostly recovered by the evening commute, though.
A spokesperson for Keolis, the company that operates the commuter rail network, did not directly address The Light’s questions about the delays.
In Boston, some passengers looking for the Middleborough/Lakeville line were confused — that’s because it was renamed to the Fall River/New Bedford line overnight, and the schedule was overhauled to accommodate the new service. Keolis employees said about 30% of commuters had questions about the 6:45 a.m. train from Boston to Fall River and New Bedford.
Overall, the disruptions were minor. And they had no impact on the joyful vibe aboard the train New Bedford’s VIPs took to the ribbon-cutting in Taunton.
“I’m elated, I’m excited, and I’m reinvigorated,” said New Bedford City Councilor Ian Abreu.
Tony Sapienza, who chairs the boards of the New Bedford Economic Development Council and the Whaling Museum, called the experience a “dream come true.” Former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard said it felt “fantastic” to be on the train. Both said they were looking forward to the prospect of new development spurred by the extension.
Many residents have feared that South Coast Rail would increase housing costs and displace residents. Paul Chasse, CEO of the REALTOR Association of Southeastern Massachusetts and leader of the Rail to Boston Coalition, isn’t among them.
“I don’t think it’s going to gentrify the city,” he said before hopping on the train. “It will have more pros than cons.”
The pros include more job opportunities for locals and more money spent by visitors to South Coast businesses, he said. The bottom line for Chasse and virtually every other person who spoke publicly on Monday: South Coast Rail will be good for New Bedford’s economy.
Fulfilling a promise
Deborah Baker and her husband William Baker made a promise to each other: When South Coast Rail finally launched, they would ride the train together to Boston.
That was years ago, as the two New England natives — she from Wellesley, he from Belmont — vacationed near New Bedford and heard about the prospect of a rail link into Boston.
“We always said it would be great to live in a place where you could get to Boston” without driving, she said.
They moved around the East Coast, down to Florida in the late 1990s, then back to New England in 2009, to New Bedford, where they lived in a house just south of downtown in Ward 5.
And, like so many others, waited for the train. And waited.
The day came on Monday. Too late for William Baker, who died in November 2022. The founder and executive director of The Dyslexia Foundation, which conducted research and advocacy on the condition, was 71 years old.
“I am fulfilling a promise I made to my husband,” said Deborah, who boarded the 2:13 p.m. train from the downtown station. As the train rolled on toward Middleborough, she said her husband was indeed with her, as she reached into her handbag.
She pulled out a tin of cinnamon Altoids, emptied of the mints. She said that some of her husband’s remains had been scattered two years ago at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where visitors can find the graves of such cultural luminaries as Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust and Richard Wright, Frederic Chopin, Sarah Bernhardt and Jim Morrison.
And some of William Baker’s ashes were in the Altoids tin, along for the ride to Boston.
Deborah Baker figured she’d get a coffee at South Station, then get a train back, wrapping up a tribute to promises fulfilled and perseverance.
She said she and her husband would often say to each other: “The train is coming back. We just 100 percent believed it was coming back.”
New Bedford Light reporters Eleonora Bianchi, Arthur Hirsch, Colin Hogan, Anastasia Lennon, Abigail Pritchard, and Jack Spillane contributed to this report.
The horn being repeatedly blown at 04:27AM and every train from then on is not my idea of a wake up call. Tax payers living within a 1/2 mile of Kings Highway and every crossing are going to wake early every morning and go to sleep late every night after the last train. The Taxes on our property were higher because of were we lived. The city should drop our taxes or soundproof our house if there so proud of this nightmare. We will be lucky to get a fair offer for our homes now!
The horn use is the same as for freight trains.
Your taxes depend on fair market value.
Looking at Zillow I don’t see any dropping asking prices within a half mile of Kings Highway/Church Street Station.
Fair Market Valuations are up ~25% over two years ago.
Hang on to your house, it is going up in value.
The train will Make New Bedford Great Again.
Fewer poor people.
Whoohoo! Can’t wait to get onboard!!!
🥱
A great day for New Bedford, we lost the train in 1958, and a lot us never thought we would see it come back. Well yesterday New Bedford got back on track and we can only hope for the best.
RIP Will Baker! Glad he could make the trip! ❤️
I agree with Mr. O’Malley.
Thanks JP, All the Best to You and Yours, MPO’
totally agree with Mr. O’Malley.
I believe the train is a good idea, but I DON”T see the need to have trains going constantly day and night. There’s no way that there is a demand for the constant schedule during the day and at night as well.
I know people that live near the tracks and have not been able to sleep since this nightmare started.
They told me that especially on the first night there was a train going by every fifteen- or twenty-minutes day and night CONSTANTLY blowing the horn.
The quality of life for these people has disappeared as well as their health.
If this nightmare is to continue, people need to get reimbursed. This is a class suit lawsuit waiting to happen.
Someone needs to do something about this soon.