Bullet to the Heart

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on May 23, 2016 will inaugurate a new nonstop regional/commuter rail service between Worcester and Boston.

Called the “HeartToHub,” the nonstop service will take about one hour, cutting about 30 minutes off existing service that takes 90 minutes with up to 16 stops. It will run twice daily from Monday to Friday, originating in Worcester in the morning and Boston South Station in the evening, also making stops at Yawkey and Back Bay stations in between. The Boston-bound trains are scheduled to depart from Worcester at 8:05 a.m. and arrive at South Station at 9:07 a.m.; the evening Worcester trains will leave South Station at 7:35 p.m. and reach Worcester at 8:40 p.m.

MBTA officials plan to evaluate the popularity of the service in one year.

The MBTA had once used the term “bullet train” in a press release about the service. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who worked for one year as managing director of the Texas Central Railway, a transportation firm which is in the process of planning a high-speed rail connection between Houston and Dallas–Fort Worth, took issue with that reference, even though the MBTA hasn’t used it in a very long time.

“Calling this a ‘bullet train’ shows how little MassDOT knows about modern trains. Japan’s debuted in 1964 at 130 mph,” wrote Moulton in response to the announcement of the May 23 service startup. The MBTA replied that only once had it incorrectly used the term “bullet train,” and that the service would be called the “HeartToHub.”