Weekend service to be restored on three MBTA commuter-rail lines

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will restore weekend commuter-rail service on three lines starting Dec. 27, Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Richard Davey announced yesterday.

Service on the Kingston/Plymouth and Greenbush lines will return on Saturdays and Sundays, and the Needham Line will resume Saturday service after a two-year absence.

"Our customers have consistently asked for more transportation options, not fewer," Davey said in a post on the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (MassDOT) blog.

Weekend service on the lines was eliminated in 2012 as part of a deficit-cutting measure in the MBTA's fiscal-year 2013 budget. The agency and MassDOT heard from many commuter-rail riders and their representatives in the Massachusetts Legislature asking that service be reinstated. Restoring the service was made possible under funding included in the FY2015 state budget.