An empty commuter train is heading north from the South Coast on a test run, approaching Myricks Junction in Berkley. It blows its horn in the pattern required at grade crossings: two long blasts, one short, one long.
This is where the Fall River and New Bedford lines converge on their way up to Boston.
For decades, the two South Coast cities’ interests have converged over the idea that they were the missing spoke in the hub of Boston commuter rail.
The region hasn’t had a train to Boston since the 1950s, when highways became king. Now, after more than three decades of political promises and $1 billion spent, South Coast Rail is scheduled to open Monday.
But how many people will take the 90-minute ride to Boston? And will rail bring the promised vibrance and opportunity?
TRANSIT MEANS BUSINESS
Next to the new Fall River station, in an older shopping plaza, a Brazilian bakery and café opened last year.
In the kitchen here at Bread Brazil, a baker is scraping yellow batter into tube pans for fubá, a corn-flour cake. Out front, a few customers are eating sandwiches.
Once the train opens, the bakery could be busy with a line of people grabbing food to take on board.
Eber Gomes, one of the bakery owners, says he’s looking forward to it. He speaks in Portuguese with an employee interpreting.
“We're happy that the new train is going to be opening, because it means that there's going to be more business, more people coming through,” he said. “Hopefully they will stop by our store and get something to eat.”
South Coast Rail will have six new stations: Fall River, Freetown, two in New Bedford, East Taunton, and Middleborough. Some are in the heart of a walkable neighborhood; others are not.
The East Taunton station, described by one project official as the “nicest” facility in the commuter rail system, sits at the end of an industrial road.
In New Bedford, the city has a pair of stations: one near downtown and one on Church Street, where two-family homes mingle with Capes and ranches as you get farther from the city center.
LIFE NEAR THE TRAIN
Paul Amaral lives a block from the Church Street station. He’s a contractor with four school-age children.
He can’t take a train to work, but he says he might still use it to go into Boston.
“It's not a bad thing,” he said of getting a rail station in the neighborhood. “I mean, it's kind of good if I wanted to go up there. Like the other day, we went to Boston to go watch a show at the Garden. We were like, ‘Oh, too bad the train wasn't here.’”
But he’s worried about what the train might bring to his quiet corner of the city.
“We already have problems with different people, you know, with things going on in the city, as far as drugs and everything like that,” he said. “And I'm a little worried to see if things [up] that way come down this way.”
Another local concern is whether the train will push housing prices higher than they’ve already risen in recent years.
Compared to just a few years ago, paying rent in New Bedford eats up a much larger share of a tenant’s income, as Mayor Jon Mitchell said in his State of the City address in January. And would-be buyers are having trouble finding homes they can afford.
Still, train-related price increases could be limited by the number of people willing to do a daily commute to Boston from the South Coast. The ride takes about an hour and a half and costs almost $400 a month.
WILL YOU RIDE?
For some workers, it sounds appealing.
Pam Kuechler, executive director of the New Bedford anti-poverty agency People Acting in Community Endeavors, or PACE, says for occasional meetings in Boston, the train would be great.
“Maybe I have to leave at 8 o’clock, but if I have an hour and a half to actually sit and do work on my computer or whatever, it's more productive time for me,” she said. “And I will definitely take advantage of that, if that is an option for me.”
LO THESE MANY YEARS
If there’s one thing on which everyone agrees about South Coast Rail, it’s that these trains have been a long time coming.
A running joke among local politicians counts the number of ceremonial shovels they’ve received at different groundbreakings since at least 1998.
Ryan Coholan, chief operating officer of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, grew up in New Bedford and knows very well what the wait has been like.
But he says it’s worth it.
“The South Coast is a beautiful part of the state,” he said. “I think that having this service here opens up a lot of opportunity, not just for people to come from the South Coast towards Boston, but also in the other direction as well.”
Some folks here wonder if a groundbreaking will ever happen for the faster version of South Coast Rail, now called Phase 2. It shaves a projected 13 to 15 minutes off the ride by following a route through Stoughton instead of zig-zagging east to Middleborough, and it would use electric trains instead of diesel.
But the state is turning its attention to other priorities, for now.
Back in Fall River, bakery owner Eber Gomes says whichever way riders travel, rail service should be good for the region.
“Yeah,” he said. “For me it's good.”
He says he may start opening earlier — so you can get your coffee for the train.
