Rail from Boston to South Coast suffers disruptions, cancellations for hours; Fall River woman shares her experience

Some rail riders are sharing their experience after reportedly being stranded this past weekend.

Hundreds of passengers on the MBTA’s South Coast Rail service faced significant disruptions due to cancellations caused by staffing shortages on Sunday.

Direct train lines from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River were canceled, leaving a gap in service for over five hours.

Affected passengers were informed of replacement bus services, but some buses reportedly failed to arrive.

Taylor Ferreira contacted Fall River Reporter about her first experience traveling on South Cost Rail from Fall River.

“I thought it would be nice on Sunday to take (the kids. I have three children, and we went to the station). We left at 2:19. When we arrived in Boston, we got the kids something to eat. They were excited for the new atmosphere and then when we were ready to go home as scheduled, the ride was canceled to go back to Fall River. Not only were they canceled (once), they were canceled twice. We were there until 7:58. We were told we had to get off in East Taunton and there would be a shuttle to bring us back to Fall River. We got back to East Taunton from the 7:58 time to go on the train from us sitting all those hours. We were excited to go home, however, our journey did not stop there. The shuttles were not there. We were stranded until 11:09 to get onto the next train ride for just two stops away to Fall River. My children were crying. They thought they (would) never get home. They cried while they were waiting because they are not used to the atmosphere of people asking them for money. It’s an experience that a child (should) not have to go through. It’s sad that we can’t do things for our children to make them happy trusting that they have their stuff together.”

Ferreira stated that her children stayed home from school over the ordeal.