Salem Halloween 2023: MBTA Adds Boston, Beverly Trains To Witch City

SALEM, MA — In an ongoing effort to move people in and out of Salem during the Halloween season without them driving to the Witch City, the MBTA and Keolis Commuter Rail Services will increase train frequency to two trains an hour to and from Salem during October with additional service both to Boston and north to Beverly.

There will be 10 more inbound trains daily from Salem to North Station, with at least 10 trains after 6 p.m. There will also be eight additional outbound trains from North Station to Salem, and seven more outbound trains from Salem to Beverly.

The additional service will translate into a train arriving in Salem from North Station about every 40 minutes each day.

"Because we don't have enough parking to accommodate the number of visitors who visit, though, we strongly encourage visitors to consider alternative ways to travel to our city," Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said.

Officials said that last year during Haunted Happenings, weekend ridership on the Newburyport Rockport Line was the highest it has ever been, exceeding more than 400 percent of the pre-COVID ridership.

Downtown garages have filled up early in the day the past two weekends — despite less-than-desirable weather most of those days — with more than 100,000 visitors expected each weekend day during the upcoming three-day weekend.

The city was expecting to meet or exceed last year's visitation of nearly 1 million non-residents during the month of October.

(Also on Patch: Salem Halloween 2023: What To Know If You're Headed To The Witch City)

"Salem is the place to be this Halloween season for Haunted Happenings, and we're ready to bring you there with more weekend Commuter Rail trips this October than we've ever offered before to and from Salem," MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng said. "Mass transportation is a
great way to travel, so leave the driving to us and enjoy Salem's festivities in Witch City."

The full schedule is available online here.

The last weekday and weekend outbound trains to Salem depart North Station at 11:50 p.m. — 50 minutes later than the spring/summer schedule. The last weekend inbound train to North Station from Salem departs at 12:35 a.m. — nearly two hours later than the summer weekend schedule.

Passengers can utilize the $10 Weekend Commuter Rail Pass to and from Salem. For Indigenous People's Day, the MBTA will operate a regular Monday weekday service. However, Salem will operate its free weekend shuttle services to and from downtown from more than 1,300 parking spaces at Salem Hospital, Salem High School and the O'Keefe Center at Salem State University.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)