Traffic & Transit
MBTA Gives Worcester One Express Train Back After Eliminating Two Trips In 2023
The T cut the morning and afternoon Heart To Hub express trains in the fall, but one is coming back in May.
WORCESTER, MA — MBTA spring Commuter Rail schedules revealed today show that Worcester will get a morning express trip to Boston, a partial restoration of express service initially cut in the fall.
Starting in May, the weekday morning express train will return, but there will not be a corresponding express train outbound during afternoon hours. The new morning express train will also leave later than during previous iterations that left between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.
"Through collaboration with the city of Worcester, the MBTA will reintroduce a weekday morning express train from Worcester, arriving at South Station in downtown Boston at 8:45 AM. The trip will also include stops at Framingham and Lansdowne," the T said in a news release.
The T and Keolis, the company that operates the Commuter Rail system, effectively eliminated the Heart To Hub morning and afternoon express trains during a fall/winter schedule change by adding all the suburban stops between Worcester and Natick. That change added about 20 minutes onto what was previously a one-hour train ride into Boston.
Leaders in Worcester are attempting to be more forceful in advocating for a decent train link between New England's two largest cities. A new working group with local influences and a leading T official has been convened to focus on train service.
The new spring Commuter Rail schedules go into effect May 20. The new timetables were not immediately released Thursday.
