The South Coast Rail will soon pull into the station

MIDDLEBORO — The new Middleboro train station, which was originally set to open two years ago, will open on March 24 with the opening of the new Fall River/New Bedford line.

The new Middleboro station, which will open near West Clark Street and replace the Middleboro/Lakeville station on Commercial Drive, was originally slated to open at the end of 2023 but was delayed to the spring of 2025 due to delays in the South Coast Rail project, which will connect Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford with Boston for the first time since the late 1950s.

While the Middleboro/Lakeville station will no longer be a part of the South Coast Rail, it will still be open for CapeFlyer with potential for future Cape service, according to Jean Fox, the South Coast Rail director of public engagement.

“We’re not giving up that station,” she said.

Thirty-seven miles of new track were constructed during the South Coast Rail project, connecting the Fall River/New Bedford line to the commuter rail system at the new Middleboro station.

“We’re basically taking what is already existing on the Middleboro/Lakeville line and bringing it all the way to Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford,” Fox said.

The project, which began six years ago, includes a total of six new stations with the new Middleboro station, two new stations in New Bedford near Church Street and the Seastreak Ferry Terminal, and new stations in Fall River, Freetown and East Taunton.

In addition to the new stations, there will also be two new layover facilities.

The layover facilities, Fox said, are not maintenance facilities but instead locations where the trains can park at night or where minor issues can be taken care of.

The new stations are “fully accessible” with ramps and eight-foot tall platforms, measuring from groundlevel, which will allow anyone to board any train car, whether they have a stroller or are in a wheelchair, Fox said. There will also be electric vehicle charging stations, canopies and emergency phones.

“They’re all pretty standard, but they’re all the latest in terms of design,” she said.

There will be 32-weekday trips and 26-weekend trips, as well as late night services with the last train leaving out of South Station right before midnight.

“For everybody who said to me, ‘What if I go to a baseball game?’, you can get home,” Fox said.

Weekday direct service will run approximately every 70 minutes and on weekends approximately every 120 minutes.

There will be 16 new train cars, which will be bi-level and include bathrooms, some tables and free wifi. With the ability to transport 750 passengers to and from South Station, each bi-level train car can hold 150 passengers.

The new lines will be in fare Zone 8 and cost $12.25 each way or $6 each way for reduced fares. On weekends and federal holidays, the fare will be $10. The train will also be free for children under 11, people who are legally blind, police, firefighters and military personnel. On weekdays it will cost $4 to park at a station and $2 on weekends and holidays.

At the Feb. 6 meeting, one audience member asked how the rail is being funded, citing the fact that a $6 fee isn’t going to cover everything.

“Clearly the fares are not paying for this investment,” he said.

According to Fox, public transportation is always subsidized and will be financed by state funding.

Riders will be able to purchase tickets on either the MBTA mTicket app or while on the train. There won’t be ticket kiosks at the stations and Charlie Cards, which are currently used on buses and the subway, cannot be used on the commuter rail.