MBTA has smooth test run of event trains ahead of the World Cup

The MBTA tested out its revamped strategy for transporting soccer fans to Gillette Stadium on Thursday for a friendly match featuring France and Brazil.

The match acted as a small trial run for the transit agency ahead of the World Cup, which will see expanded train service to all seven games played at Gillette in June and July.

The MBTA confirmed that more than 3,000 tickets for special event trains traveling from South Station to Foxboro were sold and all trains ran without incidents or delays.

Speaking to WBUR on Friday from a Boston-bound Acela train, T chief operating officer Ryan Coholan said he would place the agency's execution of the friendly match "in the category of a success."

Coholan previously described the friendly match as “a chance to exercise some of the changes to our typical service to Foxborough.” The planned service had a capacity for about 6,000 passengers.

The transit service, which is no stranger to transporting fans to the stadium, used some different techniques to bring more fans to Foxborough.

Trains ran directly from South Station to Foxboro Station. They then returned to their origin point to pick up more riders, using a Mansfield commuter rail stop to turn back to toward Boston. Coholan said the recycling "went off without a hitch".

Passengers were placed in two separate groups to board the trains, similar to airline boarding. The T last used the method in 2023, for the Army-Navy game at Foxborough.

Regular service to Foxboro Station was suspended Thursday and several other lines experienced schedule changes to accommodate the four bi-level event trains the T ran to the stadium. The agency typically runs one train to the stadium for regular season Patriots games, and has run up to five trains for special events like the Army-Navy game, according to past comments made by Massachusetts interim Transportation Secretary and MBTA General Manager Phil Eng.

The first train was scheduled to depart South Station at 12:45 p.m., with boarding times separated into two groups. Event train riders were instructed to line up outside of the station along Summer Street, where MBTA staff checked tickets.

Brenda Belgamo, who attends college in Boston, was one of the fans who opted for the train. Wearing a bright yellow Brazil team jersey shipped to her by her father in Florida, Belgamo said it took “some digging online” to find the South Station to Foxboro train tickets. “But once I figured it out, it was pretty easy.”

Boarding the trains bound for Foxboro station was seamless, according to passengers who spoke with WBUR. Estefania Guerrero rode the first departing train with her boyfriend, Ismail Harchaoui.

Guerrero said she was worried about how the event service would run as the World Cup inches closer, but found the queuing process to be “pretty organized” and quick, despite long lines.

Harchaoui said staff at South Station were helpful before and during the boarding process.

“We didn’t wait that much, and I feel like everything was smooth,” he said.

Guerrero said she would take the train to Gillette for future events over driving.

“ I definitely went to Gillette and had to wait three hours in a parking garage just waiting to get out," she said, recalling previous experiences in stadium traffic. "So this just makes it so much easier."

But the run Thursday was just a fraction of the service the agency is planning for the World Cup tournament this summer. The T has committed to moving 20,000 people to the stadium per match by commuter rail using 14 event trains.

MBTA event train tickets for the World Cup go on sale on April 8. The first match at Gillette takes place on June 13.