Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail (South Coast Rail)

Weaver's Cove Layover, like the rest of the Fall River Secondary work, was largely complete when I went last week:

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Some buildings are up at Wamsutta Layover:
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The just-about complete Fall River station. The north canopy, viewed from a less-than-flattering area across the tracks:
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The ramp-and-stair entrance from Pearce Street:
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I never love surface parking lots, especially at urban stations. Hopefully this will become TOD someday.
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The station viewed from the south:
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And finally, Middleborough station. (Because neither station is easily viewable from public roads, I was not able to photograph Freetown or East Taunton.)
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The pedestrian entrance from Grove Street (Route 28):
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Driveway and new turn lane from Main Street (Route 105):
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Awesome! Thanks for the pictures. Great to see the progress that has been made and what its starting to look like in real life.
 
Thank you for these. Great to see the progress. A few thoughts:

  • I agree with you re: the surface parking at Fall River Depot (and same for Whale's Tooth). I hope that it'll eventually be available for TOD. I believe that has always been the long-term plan, but I don't remember for sure.
  • I still hate that the Weaver's Cove site is where the layover yard ended up. I get that Fall River isn't exactly a development hot spot, but they're not exactly making a whole lot of new waterfront (especially navigable, coastal waterfront) space either. I would much rather have seen development there that actually taps into the waterfront (mixed use with a waterfront park, residential, or even a better industrial use). But it's not as if the MBTA was competing with developers chomping at the bit for that real estate, and I doubt there were many (if any) developers who would/could have afforded the environmental cleanup. So I guess it is what it is. Maybe someday.
  • I think the Middleborough station relocation is, overall, a good thing. It's more integrated with the higher density Middleboro Center area (and walkable to the main commercial drag, Center St.). It's also better connected to I-495. I don't like that they are abandoning a site which saw some transit oriented development (albeit, very car-centric), and I don't know how it'll work with Cape Flyer/future Wareham/Cape Cod service. But overall, I think the station is in the best location for the town of Middleborough.
 
Lrfox said:
  • I think the Middleborough station relocation is, overall, a good thing. It's more integrated with the higher density Middleboro Center area (and walkable to the main commercial drag, Center St.). It's also better connected to I-495. I don't like that they are abandoning a site which saw some transit oriented development (albeit, very car-centric), and I don't know how it'll work with Cape Flyer/future Wareham/Cape Cod service. But overall, I think the station is in the best location for the town of Middleborough.
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I think it's an apartment building and not a condo, but I wonder what people renting there think about the station relocation? I would assume they rented across the street from the Middleboro/Lakeville train station for the access to Boston. I would be upset if I had rented for that reason.
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Lrfox said:
  • I still hate that the Weaver's Cove site is where the layover yard ended up. I get that Fall River isn't exactly a development hot spot, but they're not exactly making a whole lot of new waterfront (especially navigable, coastal waterfront) space either. I would much rather have seen development there that actually taps into the waterfront (mixed use with a waterfront park, residential, or even a better industrial use). But it's not as if the MBTA was competing with developers chomping at the bit for that real estate, and I doubt there were many (if any) developers who would/could have afforded the environmental cleanup. So I guess it is what it is. Maybe someday.
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The city's just glad it wasn't that controversial LNG terminal that was proposed for Weaver's a decade ago. Anything is gravy to them compared to that.
  • I think the Middleborough station relocation is, overall, a good thing. It's more integrated with the higher density Middleboro Center area (and walkable to the main commercial drag, Center St.). It's also better connected to I-495. I don't like that they are abandoning a site which saw some transit oriented development (albeit, very car-centric), and I don't know how it'll work with Cape Flyer/future Wareham/Cape Cod service. But overall, I think the station is in the best location for the town of Middleborough.
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The new Middleboro platform can't be used at all by Cape trains. It resides on the wye to the Middleborough Secondary, not the Cape Main. They'd have to build another platform 350 ft. away across the parking lot to make any use of it for Cape services. Cape Flyer trains are expected to keep using Middleboro/Lakeville station, which should be nice and confusing for everyone.
 
Java King said:
I think it's an apartment building and not a condo, but I wonder what people renting there think about the station relocation? I would assume they rented across the street from the Middleboro/Lakeville train station for the access to Boston. I would be upset if I had rented for that reason.
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My understanding is that there weren’t/aren’t a ton of commuters in those buildings. They’re newer construction rentals in a decent school district (Freetown-Lakeville) and a “safe” town which isn’t easy to find in that corner of the state. I grew up in the area and knew a few people who moved in for that reason (the alternative was most likely a 3 decker in New Bedford). None were Boston commuters. There’s little appeal beyond the T access and the zip code and I imagine someone looking to access Boston and reduce car use can do better somewhere closer to town.

But yeah. If I rented there for the T access, I’d be annoyed by the longer, less than pleasant walk to the new station.

F-Line to Dudley said:
The city's just glad it wasn't that controversial LNG terminal that was proposed for Weaver's a decade ago. Anything is gravy to them compared to that.

The new Middleboro platform can't be used at all by Cape trains. It resides on the wye to the Middleborough Secondary, not the Cape Main. They'd have to build another platform 350 ft. away across the parking lot to make any use of it for Cape services. Cape Flyer trains are expected to keep using Middleboro/Lakeville station, which should be nice and confusing for everyone.
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Yeah, they treated LNG as if it was certain to bring about the end of life as we know it in the region. But there are plenty of officials and residents alike who aren’t thrilled with the layover yard either. This is Fall River, after all. They feel the site should be Fall River’s version of National Harbor (but with an aquarium to rival NEAQ as well). Realistically. something better than a rail yard would have been nice.

I knew it would need another platform but didn’t realize they’d continue to use the old station for the Cape Flyer. On one hand, I can imagine Cape Flyer boarding/disembarking is pretty light at Middleborough/Lakeville so it’s hardly worth the cost of a new platform. But the current plan seems kind of silly.
 
Riverside said:
DATTCO is ending its New Bedford commuter bus service.

thepublicsradio.org

New Bedford’s last mass transit link to Boston closes in April - TPR: The Public's Radio

DATTCO announced it will stop running buses to Massachusetts’ South Coast on April 16, leaving carless commuters without a direct ride to Boston until the MBTA’s long-awaited South Coast Rail opens next winter.
thepublicsradio.org thepublicsradio.org
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If bus service is that unprofitable... even at $31/RT... yikes. SCR is going to be such a money pit.
 
Peter Pan still runs busses from Boston to New Bedford and vice-versa.
 
@F-Line to Dudley the curved Middleboro platform piqued my interest in the construction photos. I thought you mentioned it was not feasible for a curved platform near the Wynn Casino in Everett? I'm sure it's not desirable, but it seems like the MBTA opted for this curved platform at this location in Middleboro. Do you know why it's acceptable here in Middleboro and not in Everett?

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jklo said:
If bus service is that unprofitable... even at $31/RT... yikes. SCR is going to be such a money pit.
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I will note that DAATCO was more like $17-20/RT for a regular rider (10-trip tickets or monthly passes).

I'll mention that DeCamp buses in NJ also announced termination of their commuter routes this week, and (unlike DAATCO) have some numbers, which by my math work out to a roughly 50% decline in passenger loads per-trip vs pre-pandemic. For private services....unless they were incredibly profitable pre-pandemic it seems difficult to imagine how they'd be turning a profit now if those are the kind of numbers they're seeing on suburban ridership.
 
This is by no means a Massachusetts-only problem, but it baffles me how the MBTA and MassDOT are perennially unwilling to fund obvious bus services. South Coast Rail is worth a billion dollars, but we can't subsidize a few bus trips in the meantime? (I don't even think Fall River had direct bus service to Boston even before these cuts.) We're studying Northern Tier passenger rail, but there's only two Greenfield-Boston round trips on Greyhound per day, and the rest of the corridor is served only by slow MART and FRTA local service. Even with the GLX, a project that absolutely was worth the cost, there was zero willingness to meaningfully increase bus service in the corridor during the endless delays.
 
The EGE said:
This is by no means a Massachusetts-only problem, but it baffles me how the MBTA and MassDOT are perennially unwilling to fund obvious bus services. South Coast Rail is worth a billion dollars, but we can't subsidize a few bus trips in the meantime? (I don't even think Fall River had direct bus service to Boston even before these cuts.) We're studying Northern Tier passenger rail, but there's only two Greenfield-Boston round trips on Greyhound per day, and the rest of the corridor is served only by slow MART and FRTA local service. Even with the GLX, a project that absolutely was worth the cost, there was zero willingness to meaningfully increase bus service in the corridor during the endless delays.
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Right now the T cannot attract enough drivers to even cover current service. I suspect that is one of the barriers to expanded service -- it makes no sense to promise the service if you cannot actually run it.
 
Java King said:
@F-Line to Dudley the curved Middleboro platform piqued my interest in the construction photos. I thought you mentioned it was not feasible for a curved platform near the Wynn Casino in Everett? I'm sure it's not desirable, but it seems like the MBTA opted for this curved platform at this location in Middleboro. Do you know why it's acceptable here in Middleboro and not in Everett?

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It's not the curve with Everett. It's the grade. Next to the casino the Eastern Route is on a 3% grade coming off the Mystic bridge, steepest on the whole Purple Line. That's too steep by almost half for ADA platform regulations, so it can't legally be built.

There are plenty of curved platforms out there. East Weymouth and Waymouth Landing on the Greenbush Line, for example.
 
jklo said:
If bus service is that unprofitable... even at $31/RT... yikes. SCR is going to be such a money pit.
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I’m optimistic that the train is just such a nicer mode of transport than the bus even with longer travel time that it will attract riders who’d never consider the bus. I’d also imagine the CR would be used well for weekend and holiday leisure combined with UMass Dartmouth student trips.
 
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