Fairmount commuter rail train
Fairmount commuter rail train

Fairmount Stories:

Mobility, Advocacy, and Environmental Justice

Hi there! My name is Maria.
Welcome to Dorchester, Massachusetts!

The narrator's face

I've lived here my whole life. I am an educator and recently bought a townhouse close to the MBTA Fairmount commuter rail line. The Fairmount Line has become a big part of how I view my community now.

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When I think of my community, things like access, unity, history, and action come to mind...

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I live near the Four Corners / Geneva station on the Fairmount Line. For me, the Fairmount Line is connected to a lot of good memories.

I love taking my grandkids to the Boston Children's Museum — we get off at South Station in Downtown Boston.

And it's just a 15-minute ride on the Fairmount Line! It saves me from having to take a bus and a train. I enjoy riding through my community as well!

The Fairmount Line has become a big part of my community, one I am really appreciative of.

The line is a part of other communities nearby, too.

Let me show you!

At A Glance

The Fairmount Line consists of 9 stops throughout Boston.

The Fairmount Line services four major neighborhoods, and has the highest percentage of ridership comprised of people of color in low to middle income households in the MBTA commuter system.

The line is within the limits of the City of Boston, similar to the city's subways and light rail. Despite this, it's still classified as a commuter rail line.

It takes only 30 minutes for a train to complete its 9 mile course one-way, making it a faster option for residents than driving or taking the bus.

If I'm going to South Station, we're gonna take the commuter rail as opposed to taking the bus and then another train.

The narrator's face
The narrator's face

To me, the Fairmount Line is...

easytransit
sustainabletravel
reliabletrips

If you live near the Fairmount Line,
how do you feel about it?

(click the circles below!)

Your responses will help the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative better understand how people use and feel about the Fairmount Line. Your response is anonymous.

As you and others have shared, the Fairmount Line means many things to many people.

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But it didn't always look the way it does today. Did you know there's a long history of community action on the Fairmount Line?

Let me tell you about it!

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Building for the Community

Growing up in the 70's, I remember how the line passed right next to my backyard, but it didn't actually stop anywhere near my house.

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To actually serve the communities it runs through, we needed more stations to be built along the Line.

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2005

Action to Increase Stops

Due to pressure from community activists and the EPA, the MBTA agreed to make improvements to the existing Fairmount Line and begin efforts to add more stops.
Thanks to these efforts, access and connectivity for the Fairmount Corridor improved considerably.

Curious about transit accessibility in your area?
Check out the AllTransit tool!

The Fairmount Line from the past
The Fairmount Line from the past

Before 2012, we only had three stops plus the terminals at South Station and Readville. I've lived here for 52 years, but until 2013 we didn't even have my station, Four Corners.

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2012-2019

5 More Stops Added

The Fairmount Line from the past
The Fairmount Line from the past

As part of the Fairmount Indigo Transit Coalition, me and others along the line pushed for five more stops to be built.

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Source: FICC, Boston Planning & Development Agency

The mayor, city officials, and local health leaders came together with community advocates to help get these stops built. Seeing the end result made me feel really good to be a part of making it happen!

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2020

More Frequent Trains

In an effort to increase transit equity, the MBTA piloted a program to run trains every 45 minutes on weekdays. This schedule was made permanent in 2022.

Every 45 minutes is pretty frequent, and you can plan around that. But you know, they could bring it down to 30 minutes or less. Two times an hour would really make it easier to get in and out of Boston.

The narrator's face

How often do you wish the train would come?

(click one)

Your responses will help the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative better understand how people use and feel about the Fairmount Line. Your response is anonymous.

2022

Ridership Increases

Today, there are significantly more riders on the line than before COVID-19. Ridership is now at 130% of 2019 levels.

Source: MBTA

2022

Ridership Increases

Today, there are significantly more riders on the line than before COVID-19. Ridership is now at 130% of 2019 levels.

Source: MBTA

Today

A Staple of the Community

Thanks to years of local and state efforts, the train has become an important source of transit access that is efficient and simple for the communities it serves.

But our fight doesn't end there. This long legacy of community-led action continues today!

The narrator's face

The Future

Equity beyond Access

“The term “equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment.”

Access, as important as it is, is not equity. Our community is still working towards broader transit equity.

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Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

Moving into the future

The big effort right now is reducing the negative health impacts of the Fairmount Line.

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Currently, the engines that move the trains are powered by diesel fuel.

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These engines release diesel exhaust into the air.

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Let's take a look at what's in the air around the Fairmount Line.

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Click on an icon to learn more about what's in the air!

clean
air

What is it?

Clean air is mostly Nitrogen, but also contains Oxygen (which plants produce and which keeps all life alive), Argon, and trace gases like Carbon dioxide.

Where does it come from?

Mother Earth

How could it affect me?

Clean air - especially the oxygen that feeds your body - is essential for life to thrive. Breathing clean air keeps you healthy and happy!

natural
particles

What is it?

Clean air contains particles from natural sources, including pollen from plants, wind-blown dust, and sea spray particles.

Where does it come from?

Plants

Wind

How could it affect me?

Many people have allergic reactions to pollen and dust, but these impacts are temporary and easily treated. Naturally occurring particles don't cause long-term health problems.

exhaust
gases

What is it?

When fossil fuels are burned, a complex mixture of particles and gases is generated. Gases from diesel vehicles include nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and hydrocarbons (HC) including semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC).

Where does it come from?

Diesel Trains

Buses

Trucks

Cars

How could it affect me?

Different gases impact the human body in different ways. CO can interfere with oxygen transport in the blood, NOx is associated with asthma and respiratory disease, and HC (especially SVOC) are associated with diseases including brain disease and cancer.

exhaust
particles

What is it?

When fossil fuels are burned, a complex mixture of particles and gases is generated. The particles include soot, black carbon, heavy metals, and ultrafine particles.

Where does it come from?

Diesel Trains

Buses

Trucks

Cars

How could it affect me?

Exhaust particles like soot and ultrafine particles are associated with cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and cancers.

One train passing by isn't that bad...

...but many trains per day...

...even more trains per week...

...starts to add up, meaning that there's a higher concentration of particulate matter in the air.

This means that the air quality is less healthy.
Curious about the impacts on the surrounding community? Learn more at Air Partners!

Air quality is especially important because these communities already have higher rates of asthma, specifically among children. About 20% of the population under 18 suffers from asthma.

Air pollution is a direct cause of asthma and other respiratory problems. In older adults, poor air quality can also result in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, commonly known as COPD.

These factors are in part why many of the areas along Fairmount Line are considered Environmental Justice communities. In essence, they bear the burden of local environmental problems.

In Massachusetts, an area is considered an Environmental Justice community if any of the following are true:

  • the median household income is less than 65% of the statewide median
  • at least a 40% minority population
  • less than 25% of households identify as speaking English "very well"
  • Source: mass.gov

    In these communities,

    Environmental Justice is a personal issue.

    Below are quotes from Fairmount Corridor residents about what Environmental Justice means to them.

    "Having healthy lungs, and a clean body."

    — Dorchester Resident

    "I think it means equal access to not only public transit but other modes of transit as well, and I think one of the big things that is important are bike lanes; I ride my scooter to the train station, and there are bike lanes throughout Boston, and I know they're adding more, but safety is also important!"

    — Fairmount Resident

    "There's such a huge difference in what I found or what my family found, living in a very rural area that had lots of vegetation, lots of trees, compared to living in concrete forest, if you may call it that. You can feel it."

    — Upham's Corner Resident

    "I think it means ensuring that different places are either equally impacted by climate change-type events or that, if they are disproportionately impacted, steps are taken to mitigate what's going on."

    — Hyde Park Resident

    "I've cleaned soot off the windowsills in my home for over 20 years... they should be white, and they're always black."

    — Dorchester Resident

    What does Environmental Justice mean to you?

    Resident from ...

    Your responses will help the Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative better understand how people use and feel about the Fairmount Line. Your response is anonymous.

    When our community works together — as a whole and in a collective — we can get things done properly, with ethics and transparency.

    The narrator's face

    The work to come is challenging, but we can do it.

    So let's live in the solution!

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    Here's what you can do: