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

Was there any official reason as for why North New Bedford/King's Highway station was renamed to Church Street station? Seems like a poor naming choice since the vast majority of people have no idea where Church Street in New Bedford is located.
 
anthtucker312 said:
Was there any official reason as for why North New Bedford/King's Highway station was renamed to Church Street station? Seems like a poor naming choice since the vast majority of people have no idea where Church Street in New Bedford is located.
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Church St. is an exit off MA 140...but it's the exit further from the station than King's Highway so that doesn't easily explain it.

Maybe it makes slightly more sense if you're riding certain SRTA bus routes, as there are several converging in the area. But if there was any logic to that one it was local-choice and is buried deep in local lore...because it makes little sense on-spec as any place ID for wayfinding.
 
The station site (and the parking lot) is on Church St., so naming it "Church St. Station" would make sense. I'm not sure who it's going to confuse - most passengers will access the station by car in which case they'll plug it into the GPS and be fine (arriving at "Church St. Station" on Church St. shouldn't lead to too much second guessing either). If they're local enough to be arriving on foot or by bus, they probably know Church St. just fine. While it doesn't have the same name recognition as Kings Highway, it's still a main road that most in the North End of New Bedford are very well aware of.
 
Lrfox said:
The station site (and the parking lot) is on Church St., so naming it "Church St. Station" would make sense. I'm not sure who it's going to confuse - most passengers will access the station by car in which case they'll plug it into the GPS and be fine (arriving at "Church St. Station" on Church St. shouldn't lead to too much second guessing either). If they're local enough to be arriving on foot or by bus, they probably know Church St. just fine. While it doesn't have the same name recognition as Kings Highway, it's still a main road that most in the North End of New Bedford are very well aware of.
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I suppose the people it would confuse are the people coming out from Boston who are unfamiliar with the area, but given it's New Bedford I can't imagine there's many tourists or newcomers going to New Bedford. No disrespect to New Bedford but...
 
HelloBostonHi said:
I suppose the people it would confuse are the people coming out from Boston who are unfamiliar with the area, but given it's New Bedford I can't imagine there's many tourists or newcomers going to New Bedford. No disrespect to New Bedford but...
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Merits of visiting New Bedford aside, anyone who might decide to make that "reverse" trip would almost certainly be heading to the New Bedford station adjacent to the waterfront and downtown rather than Church St. which is in an industrial strip across the street from a fairly nondescript middle class suburban neighborhood. This stop is for locals and there's no pretending otherwise.
 
Yeah, naming of far-flung commuter rail stations is less critical than rapid transit and inner-city stations - there's simply orders of magnitude less wayfinding being done. That said, I will throw a fit if the MBTA's plans to call the stop in North Easton adjacent to the HH Richardson designed North Easton station "Easton Village" and a random park-and-ride on the Stoughton border "North Easton".
 
Lrfox said:
Merits of visiting New Bedford aside, anyone who might decide to make that "reverse" trip would almost certainly be heading to the New Bedford station adjacent to the waterfront and downtown rather than Church St. which is in an industrial strip across the street from a fairly nondescript middle class suburban neighborhood. This stop is for locals and there's no pretending otherwise.
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Though it is pretty enriched by multiple existing SRTA routes...a feature shared by the two NB Branch stations and very much not by any of the FR Branch stations. Church St. sits on a solid foundation of being well-augmentable by service enhancements to the local routes and being able to plug-and-play (well...if the Phase I frequencies weren't such shit) an Airport shuttle bus for anyone jetting off to the Islands. Add some future-leaning TOD to the decidedly eyesorey current environs and there's a solid-enough foundation to build on.

I'm usually not one to contradict local lore in station naming, but there's at least *some* strategery to ply here (esp. with the airport) for outsiders, so the contradiction with the MA 140 "Church St." (not here) vs. "Kings Highway" (here) exit namechecks is sub-ideal. I know "North New Bedford" doesn't fit because physically the city stretches 4x longer N-S than it does E-W meaning there's a whole lot of land "North" of Downtown...but something less obscure than the nearest side street would've been more fitting in the long term.
 
FWIW, the historic station name at the location was "Acushnet".
 
The EGE said:
FWIW, the historic station name at the location was "Acushnet".
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Meh. "Acushnet Ave." being the nearest thoroughfare namecheck...but too-easily confused with Acushnet the town.


"Kings Highway" got about as close as it was ever going to get for a broadly-understood placemarker. Oh well.
 
The name did in fact refer to Acushnet the town, whose center is 1.5 miles east along Kings Highway.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Though it is pretty enriched by multiple existing SRTA routes...a feature shared by the two NB Branch stations and very much not by any of the FR Branch stations. Church St. sits on a solid foundation of being well-augmentable by service enhancements to the local routes and being able to plug-and-play (well...if the Phase I frequencies weren't such shit) an Airport shuttle bus for anyone jetting off to the Islands. Add some future-leaning TOD to the decidedly eyesorey current environs and there's a solid-enough foundation to build on.

I'm usually not one to contradict local lore in station naming, but there's at least *some* strategery to ply here (esp. with the airport) for outsiders, so the contradiction with the MA 140 "Church St." (not here) vs. "Kings Highway" (here) exit namechecks is sub-ideal. I know "North New Bedford" doesn't fit because physically the city stretches 4x longer N-S than it does E-W meaning there's a whole lot of land "North" of Downtown...but something less obscure than the nearest side street would've been more fitting in the long term.
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The optimist in me (as well as the former South Coast resident who has a soft spot for FR/NB) loves the thought of people coming from Boston and jumping on a SRTA bus to their final destination, moving into a new TOD neighborhood near the commuter rail station, or hopping a shuttle to EWB for a flight to the islands. But I have a hard time seeing it. SRTA is serviceable for locals, but without some drastic changes, I can't imagine much non-local utilization. TOD in this area (North New Bedford - the downtown/waterfront areas have some unique appeal w/ the combination of affordable housing and water access) seems like it would also likely cater to the existing local population as there's not much incentive to choose the Kings Highway area over potential TOD further up the line. And I'm not sure who is going to be taking the commuter rail and taking a shuttle to EWB just to grab a Cape Air flight to the islands. Going downtown and grabbing the ferry maybe since it would be a great way to do it affordably and car-free. But with flights out of BOS on Cape Air and B6, why tack on the 90 minute commuter rail trip?

I agree with you about Kings Highway vs. Church St. and I think the exit naming is a bit confusing if you're driving there for the 1st time w/o GPS. I just don't see it as that big of an issue considering who will likely be using the station. If it was still "Kings Highway" and people were saying "Well, it's on Church St. so name it "Church St. Station!," I would make the same argument your'e making. It's just not that huge an issue either way. I actually don't think "North New Bedford" is bad though. Locally, everything north of 195 is referred to as the "North End." This location fits the bill. It's not quite "Far North" yet (which is also used regularly in real estate/rental listings as well as conversation). I also think they could have used "Brooklawn." The cross street with Church St. at the station site is Brooklawn Ave., and it's about a 7 minute walk from there to Brooklawn Park which is a pretty well known local landmark (maybe more so than King's Highway).
 
Lrfox said:
But with flights out of BOS on Cape Air and B6, why tack on the 90 minute commuter rail trip?
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Side note, I work at EWB and we had weekend regulars that lived in Rowes Wharf (with a direct water taxi to BOS) and they had their driver bring them to EWB every Friday to fly to MVY.
 
gregrc75 said:
Side note, I work at EWB and we had weekend regulars that lived in Rowes Wharf (with a direct water taxi to BOS) and they had their driver bring them to EWB every Friday to fly to MVY.
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I don't doubt it, but do you think they'd ditch the driver for the Commuter Rail?

Awesome you work at EWB, by the way. I'm still hopeful that they end up with meaningful scheduled service beyond the Islands.
 
Lrfox said:
I don't doubt it, but do you think they'd ditch the driver for the Commuter Rail?

Awesome you work at EWB, by the way. I'm still hopeful that they end up with meaningful scheduled service beyond the Islands.
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No, I don’t think they would, they were an older couple.
I hope for the same! It was a tease when Elite operated for that month span. I can’t believe how well they did despite announcing the service only weeks ahead.
 
turnto10.com

Construction ramps up for South Coast Rail Project

Construction work for the long-awaited South Coast Rail Project linking southeastern Massachusetts to Boston is ramping up this spring. Under Phase 1 of the South Coast Rail Project, six new commuter rail stations will be built along the Middleborough-Lakeville line, including at Middleborough...
turnto10.com turnto10.com

Another update.
 
Another welded rail train for SoCo Rail enroute. Now in Selkirk. Think its mostly destined to be dropped on the New Bedford mainline.
 
East Taunton Station Site (8/23/21)
East Taunton Station Site 8-23-21.JPG
 
East Taunton Station Site (8/27/21)
East Taunton Station.JPG


Freetown Station Site (8/27/21)
Freetown Station.JPG


I also recorded a short video of the Freetown station site and a section of the Fall River Secondary if anyone wants to get a closer look here.
 
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I wish I knew how to copy You Tube videos to this page but I'm sure someone else knows how to. If you search William Sternitzke's You Tube page you will find a fascinating video of the South Coast route. It starts at Stoughton Station, proceeds to No Easton Station and then shows a back of the train video through the Hockomock Swamp. I think it answers the question that a right of way exists for two tracks through the Swamp. The next shot is Whttenon Jct in Taunton.
 
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