Worcester Will Wait Until April For MBTA Change To Express Train Downgrade

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester commuters should get used to a slowdown in MBTA Commuter Rail service to Boston.

A downgrade in express train service that went into effect Oct. 3 is here to stay until at least April, even after Worcester city and state elected officials pressed transportation leaders to delay the reduction.

In late September, Mayor Joseph Petty and City Manager Eric Batista sent a letter to acting Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt asking for a delay in a plan to add several stops to Worcester express trains to Boston. That letter was accompanied by letters from city councilors, as well as requests from Worcester's state delegation for meetings to discuss the issue.

This week, Petty's office said the MBTA won't reconsider the move for at least six months, when Commuter Rail schedules are set to change for the spring and summer seasons.

"We hope that the MBTA will reconsider their decision and instead work to provide accessible transportation to our residents into Boston," Petty said in an emailed statement this week.

State Sen. Michael Moore, D-Worcester, had asked to meet with transportation officials about the change, but no meeting had been scheduled as of this week, a Moore spokesperson said.

Before Oct. 3, Worcester had a single morning and afternoon express train to and from Boston. The trains only stopped at Framingham before hitting stops in Boston before the final stop at South Station. The trip took about an hour.

With the new change in place, the morning express train leaving at 6:30 a.m. makes stops at Grafton, Westborough, Southborough, Framingham and West Natick — adding close to a half hour to the inbound trip.

The change, announced in a paragraph in a Keolis press release in early September, came as a shock to Worcester leaders. City Manager Eric Batista said he had met in recent months with state transportation about expanding express service between the state's two largest cities. No one told city officials about the downgrade. A Keolis spokesperson had said the MBTA hopes to add new riders at the stations being added to the routes.

District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson previously criticized the cut, highlighting that Worcester's Union Station is undergoing a $45 million upgrade to add a new platform to increase commuter rail capacity.

Worcester first got an express train to Boston called Heart To Hub in 2016. The service was suspended during the early months of the pandemic, but returned in 2021 with the additional stop in Framingham.