The long-awaited South Coast Rail project giving people in Fall River and New Bedford direct access to Boston is one step closer to completion.
Gov. Charlie Baker was joined by state and local officials for the ribbon-cutting Monday at the Freetown Station. They arrived at the new station on a train from Boston.
It’s the first official completion of decades of work to bring service to the South Coast of Massachusetts.
Many people took the time to congratulate Baker on finally getting it underway.
“How are we going to claim to be an inclusive commonwealth if the South Coast of Massachusetts and Fall River and New Bedford, in particular, did not have access to the public transportation that was available, as I said before, to all the other communities within 50 miles of Boston of any significant size," Baker said.
Two train stations are currently under construction in Fall River as part of phase one of the construction.
Phase one adds six new commuter rail stations in total to the Middleborough/Lakeville line.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak says those are on track to be completed by the end of 2023.
The New Bedford station will open at the same time Fall River does.
“The entire line both branches still have to be signalized and the communication systems have to be put in so even though it looks like it’s ready to open, it’s not ready to open," Poftak said.
He says Freetown was a little bit easier of a site to get done compared to the others.
“It was pretty much a greenfield site, but in Fall River we are a little packed in and it’s a denser area so it’s a little more challenging to build," Poftak said.
The MBTA says it is still working out what the cost will be for the commute, but it’s expected to take about 90 minutes.