Commuters and officials react to reopening of South Attleboro station

SOUTH ATTLEBORO, Mass (WLNE) — After three long years, commuters in South Attleboro are finally able to use their train station.

The station on Newport Avenue closed down in 2021.

Three trains passed through Monday morning, sending commuters on their way to Boston and every stop in between.

“It started out as a rusted old hub that was pretty ugly and pretty scary looking,” said Bristol 2nd district Rep. Jim Hawkins. “And instead of getting better, it got worse. It closed because it was so unsafe. And it’s very exciting now to see service being restored.”

It’s been several years since commuters could use this station, with the closure in 2021 due to a pedestrian bridge that was falling apart over the tracks.

“When I was looking for a house, I didn’t know this station was closed,” said Karim Amaro, who lives nearby. “I passed by every day and I saw the train pass by.”

“My realtor says don’t worry it’s going to be open in the next couple of months,” Amaro continued. “And it never happened, and I said well, I have to do what I have to do.”

Amaro commutes to Boston every day and had to either drive or travel to different stations to make the trek.

“It’s 15 minutes walk from my house,”Amaro said. So this is amazing and I was waiting for this for the last two years.”

The station is only partially open, with a limited schedule of just seven trains over the day, but there are hopes to expand that service moving forward.