Massachusetts opens South Coast Rail line connecting Fall River/New Bedford to Boston. Meanwhile, federal officials warn of potential collapse risks for three state bridges, including the iconic Tobin Bridge and the Bourne and Sagamore bridges on Cape Cod.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation photo
Ribbon cutting ceremony for the South Coast rail line.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey was joined in the town of Fall River by Mayor Paul Coogan and other local and state dignitaries March 24, 2025, to cut the ribbon on the Fall River/New Bedford commuter route of the state's long-awaited South Coast rail line.
The service re-connects greater Fall River to Boston by passenger rail for the first time since 1958, when the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company abandoned train service to the area.
With the resumption of the line, Fall River joined the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) network, which operates commuter rail, subways, buses and ferries across the eastern part of the state.
"I want everyone in this state to feel connected to everyone else," Healey said. "And one of the most tangible things you can do is literally provide transportation that connects people. That's what we celebrate today."
The South Coast rail program extended the existing Middleborough commuter line, reconstructed more than 17 mi. of the New Bedford main line and nearly 12 mi. of the Fall River secondary line, upgraded the existing Middleborough secondary track from Pilgrim Junction to Cotley Junction (a distance of 7.1 mi.), constructed two new layover facilities and built six new commuter rail stations at Middleborough, East Taunton, Freetown, Fall River Depot, Church Street and New Bedford.
Jean Fox, a spokesperson of the MBTA's South Coast Rail project, said that reopening the line had been seriously envisioned since 1991 — an idle dream even before then — and that naysayers have always been skeptical that the long promised and long-delayed project would ever run again.
"I've worked a lot of years on this," Fox said. "And I've heard for many of those years that I'd never see it. The perseverance of the people here … and the fact that we had regional unity behind this made it happen."
Healey and Coogan rode the 10:38 a.m. train from Fall River to East Taunton on the service's first day along with several state senators and representatives, MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, officials from commuter rail operator Keolis, members of the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority and many others. The train also stopped to pick up Freetown Town Administrator Deborah Pettey at her community's new commuter rail station.
At an event outside the East Taunton station, Healey and other officials spoke about the possibilities that easier public transportation access to Boston could mean for greater Fall River, including increased business development, more flexible job options, greater housing availability and cheaper access to a wider range of schools.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, the former mayor of Salem, said she is aware of the effect that commuter rail access can have on a city.
"I've seen commuter rail deliver sort of a turbocharged approach to our city's economy," she said. "There's no way we can manage things like Halloween [and] large-scale festivals without a train to get people up to our waterfront, [to visit] our historic museums, [and] places that are open all year-round. It's just an easier way to get there."
Fox, who was given a standing ovation during the event in Taunton, said the $1.1 billion cost of South Coast Rail would pay off down the line.
"In the final analysis, you get a billion-dollar investment in the region that is really going to benefit us," she said.
Eng said there was already "strong ridership" in the first morning of South Coast Rail Line service, with approximately 350 people heading into Boston that day and 200 who had returned. He also expects weekend service on the new Fall River/New Bedford Line to exceed expectations.
"On the weekends, some of our corridors have over 200 percent of pre-pandemic ridership, which shows just how important that is," he said. "Really, times have changed and people want to use mass transit to go visit family, friends, see sporting events, see shows, have a nice meal. So that weekend service is going to be, I think, even more popular than people could have imagined."
Feds Warn Three State Bridges at Risk of Collapse
A full year after the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Md., federal officials are warning that dozens of bridges around the country — including three in Massachusetts — could face a similar risk.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials investigating the Baltimore catastrophe issued a new report in late March 2025 warning that 68 bridges in 19 states have not been properly evaluated to determine their risk of collapsing.
Among the structures included in the report are some of the nation's most popular and heavily-trafficked, like San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and New York's Brooklyn Bridge.
In Massachusetts, the NTSB listed both the southbound upper level and northbound lower level of the Tobin Bridge, in addition to the Bourne and Sagamore bridges on Cape Cod, as being at risk.
The Maurice J. Tobin Bridge connects Boston to Chelsea and is the largest such structure in New England. In 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) launched a nearly two-year planning study to determine possible replacements for the bridge.
Both the Bourne and Sagamore bridges already are set to be replaced, though their construction is not expected to begin for several more years.
NTSB officials said its new report indicates where local and state authorities have not properly assessed bridges to see if they are at risk of collapsing.
"Frankly, we've been sounding the alarm on this since the [Key Bridge] tragedy occurred," NTSB Chair Jennifer L. Homendy said during a recent press conference. "We need action. Public safety depends on it."
Although the agency noted that the total number of bridges in the report are not certain to fail, officials said the structures need an evaluation to determine whether they meet the acceptable risk threshold based on guidance from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
In the case of the Key Bridge collapse, the NTSB said the 8,636-ft.-long steel arch continuous through truss bridge was found to be almost 30 times above the acceptable risk threshold. The main spans of the bridge fell into the Patapsco River after being struck by a container ship in the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, killing six people.
Today's top stories
