The South Coast Rail will soon pull into the station

The ongoing South Coast Rail project, which was designed to reconnect the South Coast with Boston for the first time since the late 1950s, is on track to open on March 24.

“We are absolutely at the finish line,” Jean Fox, the South Coast Rail director of public engagement, said at a presentation held in the North Branch Library on Thursday, Feb. 6.

The project, which began six years ago, includes a total of six new stations with two in New Bedford and a station in Fall River, Freetown, East Taunton and Middleboro, as well as two new layover facilities.

One New Bedford station will be near Church Street and the other will be near the Seastreak Ferry Terminal in downtown New Bedford.

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

The 37 additional track miles will join the existing tracks at the new Middleboro Station, with the trip from the Fall River/New Bedford line to South Station taking approximately 90 minutes.

“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 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.