The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has announced that the long-anticipated South Coast Rail project is on the verge of a major milestone. Passenger service for this transformative project will launch on March 24, 2025, marking the restoration of a commuter rail connection between Boston and Taunton, Freetown, New Bedford, and Fall River after 65 years.
With the South Coast region experiencing some of the highest unemployment rates and lowest median incomes in Massachusetts, this project promises game-changing benefits for these communities. The new commuter rail service will provide a direct, one-seat ride to Boston, thereby enhancing access to job markets, higher education and world class hospitals while offering a higher inventory of affordable housing in the South Coast region.
VHB: Supporting the Project Vision for 30 Years
The South Coast Rail project has been a complex and highly collaborative effort, involving coordination across seven municipalities, local, state and federal agencies, abutters, and many other stakeholders. VHB has played an integral role from the project's inception, supporting every stage of development for nearly 30 years.
From early project planning to serving in the Program Management leadership role to our role as Final Design Lead, VHB has navigated the project through more than three decades. Our team, led every step of the way by Project Manager Rick Carey, has supported environmental reviews, permitting, planning, preliminary and final design and real estate acquisitions for the construction of 37 miles of track, six stations, two layover facilities, 14 bridges, 86 culverts, 27 grade crossings, a pedestrian bridge, a new signal and communications system, and environmental mitigations.
From Early Action to Launch of Service
Our support since the 1990s has included conducting two state Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) environmental review processes, along with an extensive National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process, leading an innovative interagency group comprising federal, state, and local environmental regulators to help drive the project forward, and designing a myriad of early action construction projects.
Pivotally, VHB helped meet the challenge of initiating the first phase service to the South Coast region earlier than the Full Build Stoughton electric program that was selected as the preferred alternative. Our team partnered with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and MBTA to evaluate service phasing options at a cost of $1B. VHB supported this phased approach by evaluating construction packaging strategies, value engineering opportunities, operational limitations, and environmental permitting strategies to achieve this goal.
MassDOT and MBTA ultimately presented a supplemental MEPA and NEPA environmental review process for a phased approach for the South Coast Rail service, with the first phase extending existing Middleborough service using active freight lines—while maintaining critical freight rail service—and a design approach that limited the environmental impacts to streamline the permitting and construction timelines.
Phase 1 of the South Coast Rail service will officially conclude with the launch of passenger service at the end of March 2024.
Learn more about VHB’s involvement with South Coast Rail.
