Worcester Asked For More Express Trains, 'Shocked' By Cut Instead

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester city leaders and members of the state delegation are making a push to stop a plan to lengthen the commuter rail ride from Worcester to Boston by adding stops to the main express train between the two cities.

Keolis, the company that operates the commuter rail system for the MBTA, announced a plan to add stops to the so-called Heart To Hub express trains on Sept. 11. The news came as one paragraph in a larger news release about changes across the entire system starting Oct. 2.

The news came as a surprise to city leaders, who had met with state transportation leaders just a month before the Keolis announcement and discussed adding express train service between Worcester and Boston. At Tuesday's city council meeting, City Manager Eric Batista said he found out about the change through news reports.

"We were very shocked by the news," he said during Tuesday's meeting.

According to Keolis, the Heart To Hub trains that run twice daily — one inbound and one outbound — starting Oct. 2 will begin stopping at Grafton, Westborough, Southborough, Framingham and West Natick. The stops will add close to a half hour more to trips from Worcester that take about an hour today. The Ashland station may also become a stop, although the station is closed due to repairs.

Worcester officials want the MBTA and Keolis to consider delaying the change to discuss other possible solutions. Batista said he met with acting Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt before Tuesday's meeting to deliver that message.

District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, whose district includes Union Station, said she asked Worcester's state Sens. Michael Moore and Robyn Kennedy to intervene. Moore is set to meet with MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng about the change, she said.

"It really speaks volumes to this city that these folks come in, and you have a meeting and at no time do they ever express they planned on doing away with this service," she said.

Carlson also questioned the decision given that the MBTA is in the midst of a $45 million project to install a new platform at Union Station, among other upgrades. The project is designed to increase train capacity at the station.

"We don't even get a courtesy call to say they're going to stop this service?" she added.

The issue first came to the Worcester City Council last week when Tracy Novick, a daily train commuter and school committee member, asked councilors to do something about the loss of service. Carlson held that item because she and At-Large Councilor Moe Bergman, who chairs the council's transportation subcommittee, were gathering information about the issue.

Novick highlighted that what Keolis and city officials are calling the Heart To Hub train isn't truly that service. The Heart To Hub train debuted in 2016 offering a completely uninterrupted ride between the state's two largest cities. It was cut during larger transportation slowdowns in 2020 and returned in 2021 with a new stopover in Framingham.

On Wednesday, Keolis spokesperson Alana Westwater said the company still considers the Heart To Hub trains serving Worcester express because they skip stops in Wellesley and Newton. She also said the MBTA does not have a specific definition of what an express train is. Westwater said the cut was made due to lower ridership from Worcester, and that the MBTA hopes to add new riders at the stations being added to the routes.

The Heart To Hub trains departed Worcester each day at 6:30 p.m. and returned departing South Station at 4:55 p.m. weekdays. The schedule changes set to go into effect Monday also change two other semi-express trains. Today, trains depart at 5, 6 and 7 a.m. that make all stops between Worcester and West Natick before going express to Boston. Starting Monday, those trains will change to depart at 5, 6:45 and 7:13 a.m. with the Heart To Hub still leaving at 6:30 a.m.

Mayor Joseph Petty on Wednesday said he contacted Gov. Maura Healey about the changes, which he called an effective elimination of nonstop train service between Worcester and Boston.

"Providing a one-hour train service from Worcester to Boston is critical to growing ridership," Petty said. "In addition, this supports our efforts at fighting climate change. Every car we get off the Mass Pike reduces carbon emissions and saves on fossil fuels.

“We need to ensure that the train service is permanent and will take one hour. As costs in Boston spiral upwards, people are looking toward Worcester for housing."

Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the incorrect name of the state's transportation secretary.