Keolis Commuter Service announced that regular weekday service for MBTA Commuter Rail would be fully restored on March 30, with the number of seats available to passengers returning to pre-storm levels.
The commuter rail system has been operating on a limited schedule for the past month after a series of record-setting winter storms dropped more than 100 inches of snow on the Boston area, causing damage to the railroad infrastructure and to the locomotive fleet.
"On behalf of the entire Keolis team, I want to thank our passengers and this community for bearing with us as we have worked day and night over the past month to restore the commuter rail service," said Keolis Commuter Services General Manager Gerald C. Francis. "We know the service interruptions have caused hardships for our passengers and we want this community to know that we are doing everything in our power to regain their trust by providing a service that is safe and reliable, and to communicate better when issues arise that impact schedules."
In the wake of the storms, 23 of the 65 locomotives needed to run regular weekday service were disabled when their traction motors were damaged by snow and ice. In just three weeks, a total of 67 traction motors failed. By comparison, about 20 traction motors would be expected to fail during an entire "normal" winter.
Weekend schedules have remained at full service throughout the recovery.
