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South Coast Rail opens; officials cite staff shortages, shuttle buses and monitoring of operator Keolis
Summary
Lawmakers and MBTA officials discussed service launch and staffing shortfalls on the South Coast Rail line. MBTA and Keolis have used shuttle buses when crews were unavailable; MBTA says Keolis is training additional conductors and engineers and is working on contingency staffing.
Representatives and MBTA leadership discussed operational challenges following the March opening of South Coast Rail service to Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton.
MBTA General Manager Phil Lang said Keolis, the line operator, has worked with the authority to qualify additional personnel and to provide backup buses when crews are unavailable. Lang said Keolis had qualified managerial backups and committed to running buses proactively while training more conductors and locomotive engineers.
Lawmakers pressed about fines and penalties for Keolis; Representative Chris Hendricks urged any punitive measures be translated into benefits for South Coast riders. Lang said his goal is to make Keolis successful rather than to implement penalties and that recent weekends showed train service met the published schedule. He promised continued monitoring and said MBTA staff will be in the region to engage with communities.
Several committee members noted the line’s importance after decades without service and urged continued focus on reliability and on translating any corrective actions into direct customer benefits.
