It has been nearly 30 years since Marvin Martin stood on an overpass by Erie and Washington streets in Dorchester and watched as a Fairmount commuter train whizzed by underneath him without stopping. Martin, who is Black, could see that most of the commuter passengers didn’t look like him. In that same time frame, the northbound 23 bus stopped to pick up passengers, and Martin noticed that most of the passengers on the bus were Black or brown.

“It was already standing room only,” he said, describing the scene inside the bus. “People were packed in there like sardines. I said, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’”

When Martin began organizing the community to push for an expansion of the Fairmount commuter line in 2000, there were five stops along the route running through densely populated, majority-minority communities in Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Dorchester, with terminals in Readville and at South Station. As significant community advocacy gathered steam, those five stops became nine, with the final new station, Blue Hill Avenue, opening in 2019.

The latest improvement set for the Fairmount Line is the electrification pilot project proposed by Keolis Commuter Services that the MBTA approved last July. The $54 million plan will bring battery electric multiple-unit train cars to replace the current diesel-fueled trains. These more environmentally friendly BEMUs are expected to begin operating in 2028.

Keolis is hearing from bidders on the BEMUs and it is “on track” timeline-wise, though the project is in its early stages, according to Janet Cheung, regional rail lead and program assistant at TransitMatters, an advocacy group for better transportation and accessibility.
Keolis CEO Abdellah Chajai confirmed in a written statement that the company and the MBTA are waiting on manufacturer responses. Once one is selected, Keolis will confirm plans to launch BEMU cars in 2028.

The Fairmount Indigo Transit Coalition, one of many community advocacy groups specific to the Fairmount Line, and Keolis hosted a joint event last Thursday (Feb. 27) to celebrate the electrification project as a victory for transit equity in conjunction with Black History Month.

“This was a civil rights battle, and we all worked together and coalesced to make sure that this happened for our communities, because we would have been left behind,” Mela Bush, co-chair of the coalition said during the event.

The MBTA has worked over the past year to reduce wait times and increase service on the Fairmount Line. New schedules were announced last May that have trains mostly running on 30-to-60-minute intervals, as opposed to the 90-minute intervals in the past. After the installation of the BEMU trains, T officials anticipate reducing intervals to 20 minutes on weekdays, as BEMUs slow down and speed up quicker than diesel trains. These continuous changes are meant to improve the reliability of the line, a move that regular commuter Jason Ellis appreciates.

“For the most part, this [train is] usually here when I get here,” said Ellis, who takes the train from terminal to terminal three days a week for work. “When I get to South Station to go home, it’s usually right there, waiting to go.”

While officially a commuter rail line, the Fairmount Line is situated between the T’s Red and Orange Lines, where there is no rapid transit alternative into the city.

The communities along the Fairmount corridor are designated Environmental Justice Populations by the Massachusetts Office of Environmental Justice and Equity based on minority population, income, and language isolation data. A 2023 report by the Boston Public Health Commission revealed that Mattapan, one of the neighborhoods that the Fairmount Line services, has the highest rates of asthma emergency department visits in the city.

Multiple studies show that diesel exhaust and particles exacerbate asthma symptoms. BEMU train cars operate on hybrid power, using overhead catenary wires to charge on-board batteries that move the trains. The electric power reduces both energy use and air pollution compared to diesel trains.

“It’s not just about transportation, not just about getting you there quicker,” said Coalition co-chair Marilyn Forman. “It’s also about helping to improve the physical health of the people that are living along that line.”

Forman credited Keolis for facilitating conversations between the MBTA and community advocacy groups on how to improve the Fairmount Line and keeping communication open.

“It’s a strong partnership. We really work collaboratively and with every part of the MBTA,” said Sheri Warrington, Keolis director of public relations and government affairs. “The MBTA is supporting the Fairmount Indigo Transit Coalition and the passengers that we want to be connected with.”

At the legislative level, state Rep. Russell Holmes sees the pace of the project as “promises not kept” to the community. Then-Gov. Deval Patrick committed in 2014 to a rollout of diesel multiple units (DMU) to replace the diesel trains.

DMUs were meant to provide the Fairmount Line with faster service and shorter wait times between trains but those plans never got off the ground. At the time, only one company responded to bid requests, and its asking price was seen as too high.

With new technology available now, Holmes said, he would hold Gov. Healey and the MBTA to the timeline they promised for BEMUs.

“Has it been a long time coming? I say yes,” he said. “I hate when we promise our community something and don’t deliver it.”

For the advocates who have spent years pushing for changes to the Fairmount Line, the electrification project is just the next step. In Forman’s words, “a closed mouth don’t get fed.”

“When someone says yes to this big thing, it makes you feel like there’s no stopping,” she said. “If you don’t advocate for the things that are going to improve the quality of life for you and your family, for your community, then nothing ever happens.”

This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.