Hearing on Fairmount Line rapid-transit pilot Monday

Legislators will hold a hearing Monday on state Rep. Evandro Carvalho’s bill proposing a two-year pilot to bring the Fairmount Line closer to a rapid-transit standard.

The pilot would bring wait time between trains down to 30 minutes during off-peak hours and 15 minutes during peak hours, adjust fares to match normal MBTA subway fares and payable through normal T passes, and add the “Indigo Line” to the MBTA map.

“It’s imperative that our communities get this line to work at least as close as possible to any other MBTA line,” Carvalho said.

A pilot to extend Fairmount and Franklin commuter rail service down to Foxboro was approved last month, expected to start in 2019, and construction on the Blue Hill Avenue station connecting a populous area of Mattapan is underway. This “material change in circumstance” will likely prompt “tweaks” to the bill, Carvalho said, but “we’re still pushing to get this done.”

The Transportation hearing including bill H.2723 is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 18 from noon until 2 p.m. in room A-1 in the State House.

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