TAUNTON — Representatives of the state’s Department of Transportation got an earful Monday night from local officials opposed to Boston commuter rail service that doesn’t include a stopover at Taunton’s old Arlington Street station.

“I’m adamantly opposed to the Middleboro interim option,” said state Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton.

Pacheco was among around 100 people who crowded into a large conference room for a public hearing presented by MassDOT, at the Taunton campus of Bristol Community College inside the Silver City Galleria mall.

The DOT has been holding hearings this month from Canton to New Bedford, to provide updates and allow residents and local officials to air their opinions on the proposed South Coast Rail project that has lingered and stalled since 1990.

Both Pacheco and Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. made clear their preference for the more expensive and modern Stoughton Electric “preferred alternative” route that would include two rail stops in Taunton.

They also said the abandonment of the Stoughton option would represent yet another example of Beacon Hill’s lack of interest in developing the economic potential of the state’s southeastern region.

The “New Middleboro Option” would use less expensive diesel-fuel technology and, according previous statements from DOT, take six to eight years to implement and cost far less than the Stoughton choice.

It would run south from Boston’s South Station to the Lakeville/Middleboro station, where it would then branch down both to Fall River and New Bedford.

It also would include a westward run of rail to Taunton’s former Cotley Station near both Route 24 and 140 behind the Target store.

The DOT this year estimated the Stoughton electric-engine route would take 16 years to build and cost $3.4 billion.

Pacheco said he doesn’t understand why the DOT doesn’t have a plan to pursue federal funding for the Stoughton option, which he said will prove more environmentally sound than the Middleboro diesel option.

Pacheco said it would violate “the core of project purposes,” and added that the Middleboro option will diminish ridership to Fall River and New Bedford tenfold compared to the Stoughton plan.

Pacheco also said any consideration by the DOT to relocate the Lakeville station, in order to accommodate the Middleboro option, would be “absolutely outrageous,” and he said the “interim” alternative — which would result in only one, inconvenient Taunton station — represents nothing more than “leftovers and scraps.”

“We are not second-class citizens here in Taunton,” he said, which elicited a round of applause in the room.

Visiting DOT officials, which included South Coast Rail manager Jean Fox, listened quietly during the proceedings, which began with a PowerPoint demonstration comparing the two commuter rail options.

Pacheco said the Middleboro version will likely trigger new environmental studies and, as a result, will take as long as five years longer than has been estimated.

He also at one point said DOT can expect a court challenge if it leaves Taunton’s Arlington Street station out of the mix and neglects the needs of potential rail riders living both in Taunton and Berkley.

Hoye criticized the Middleboro option as an illogical “zig zag” that eliminates any possibility of utilizing the Arlington Street station and its surrounding area as a Transit Oriented Development, which would encourage residential and business growth in the nearby downtown area.

The DOT in 2015 made significant improvements to the Dean Street/Arlington Street rail crossing as part of a $16 million construction project to improve crossings, which also was to include three in Freetown and one in New Bedford.

The Taunton improvement eliminated a large bump-like protrusion in the street and included the installation of new rail pieces.

“How much have you already invested in preparing for the Stoughton route?” asked Hoye, who also touted Taunton for its successful Myles Standish Industrial Park.

Commercial commuter rail service at the Arlington Street depot ended in 1958.

A representative of Kenneth Fiola, executive vice president of Fall River’s office of economic development, read a letter supporting the Middleboro plan.

“From my viewpoint, there is no need to prolong this (overall) project with any additional studies as the track is in place,” the letter stated.

Former New Bedford mayor Scott W. Lang, however, said the DOT’s intention of utilizing the Middleboro option, as an interim measure leading up to inclusion of the Stoughton route, is achievable.

“I’ve been an advocate for the train for more than 20 years,” said Lang, who also suggested that the Middleboro line be tied into the CapeFYLER rail route that runs to Hyannis.

“Why not include it?” he asked.

Lang said he looks forward to two ribbon cuttings, “one in three years and one in 16 years.”

“We can do this if we stick together,” he added.

Other Taunton officials who spoke in favor of the Stoughton option included state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, and her Democratic challenger and city councilor Estele Borges.

Other city councilors who spoke included John McCaul, Donald Cleary, Daniel Dermody and David Pottier, who works as chief financial officer for DOT.

Pottier said the final decision for either the Stoughton or Middleboro option will be rendered by the DOT’s fiscal and management control board, which includes five MBTA members.