New Hampshire Commuter Rail Discussion

A shuttle bus over the new Merrimack River bridge in Bedford from the train station is the proposal these days for MHT access.

p42thedowneaster wrote:IMHO, we would be better off with a rapid bus system along the NH mainline. (Perhaps electric or hybrid). Keep the single track for freight and pave the other half of the row for the rapid busways. At each city the bus could depart from the NH main and stop at a few important destinations like MHT airport. There's no good way to get a commuter train to MHT without building another Merrimack River bridge...and I dare say that is a deal breaker.

Another point...the state could allow any bus to operate on the busway. And if that works, why not let the bus companies run the whole thing? The state would only build and maintain the road. Reality would dictate the frequency of the busses and the fares.

For better or worse, a widened 93 (and/or US 3) will be your multi-user busway, and it will be hard to justify spending $ on a bus. Meanwhile a single upgraded rail line could do pretty well, and better with passing sidings, since as dedicated ROWs go, rail wins because at the Boston end, it can slip right into North Station. Meanwhile, in Hartford, their busway-along-the-rail line is running into all kinds of problems (like how to signalize grade crossings). Inventing new modal interactions is the real deal breaker, it appears.

djlong wrote:A shuttle bus over the new Merrimack River bridge in Bedford from the train station is the proposal these days for MHT access.

...and it will work pretty well, just like a shuttle bus from the Blue Line worked at worked at Logan for 80 years. Not euro-fancy, but decent bang-for-buck.

NH decentralized? Towns have no authority other than that explicitly delegated to them by the Legislature, which often amounts to "make some bricks; buy your own straw". NH's general Dogpatch nature (I live in the town which once was Al Capp's summer home) has a lot to do with having 400 state representatives who are paid $100/year plus per diem. It's most visible in our tax structure (a 'low tax' state with a 10% interest/dividends tax?) but shows up in many other places.

I think by "champion", they mean "someone with political capital who's willing to back this with it". There's a lot about NH that keeps political capital out of the public eye, where it can be used for things like overriding Moultonborough's zoning for a private auto race track.

Last weekend's Seacoast Sunday had an article on the potential for passenger service to Portsmouth: "The likelihood of passenger rail service returning to Portsmouth any time within the next few decades is slim, officials say, and would require a "champion" for the cause."

I wouldn't ever see it happening with Amtrak; too short a route, not enough ridership. If the T wanted to do it as commuter
rail, it actually wouldn't be all that hard. There's only about 7 miles of track from Newfields to Portsmouth, so if commuter
rail started making it north, (looking at Plaistow service now) they could do it with a reasonable budget. However, from
an actual budget allocation standpoint, it is almost impossible to pry any $$$$ from NH for CR anywhere, including much more appropriate destinations such as Nashua and Plaistow, so getting it for Portsmouth would be almost impossible.
As for CR from Newburyport, there's almost no chance of that ever happening; a new bridge over the Merrimack would be
$50 to $100 Meg. Don't even think about it.

Don't count on any extensions of MBTA Commuter Rail across the MA/NH State Line for a very long time. The governor of NH doesn't want it. It would be nice through.

As always....all the more reason for the State of Maine to invest in rail infrastructure through New Hampshire in order to try and alleviate the effects of their future congestion on our economy.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:The governor of NH doesn't want it. It would be nice through.

She doesn't? Her campaign was for it, she supported it during her transition and then after taking office lobbied the Executive Council to approve funding for a Commuter Rail study. That doesn't sound like she's against it.

NealG wrote:

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:The governor of NH doesn't want it. It would be nice through.

She doesn't? Her campaign was for it, she supported it during her transition and then after taking office lobbied the Executive Council to approve funding for a Commuter Rail study. That doesn't sound like she's against it.

That was my take, as well. BTW, could someone change the title of this thread? It's several years old

Rockingham Racer wrote:

NealG wrote:

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:The governor of NH doesn't want it. It would be nice through.

She doesn't? Her campaign was for it, she supported it during her transition and then after taking office lobbied the Executive Council to approve funding for a Commuter Rail study. That doesn't sound like she's against it.

That was my take, as well. BTW, could someone change the title of this thread? It's several years old

So how's the study going (that supposedly got initiated after the Executive Council OK'd it)?

A little research shows the 'Capitol Corridor" study was approved in early February of 2013. If memory serves, it should be completed this year (checking more sources, a completion of December 2014 is mentioned in one article). The study concerning the Plaistow extension was commissioned in June of 2013 - not sure when that one was supposed to be completed.

Rockingham Racer wrote:

NealG wrote:

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:The governor of NH doesn't want it. It would be nice through.

She doesn't? Her campaign was for it, she supported it during her transition and then after taking office lobbied the Executive Council to approve funding for a Commuter Rail study. That doesn't sound like she's against it.

That was my take, as well. BTW, could someone change the title of this thread? It's several years old

It has been said before. With every election, attitude changes towards rail in NH. The last Governor was a Teamster and was very pro highway.

And I will change the title.

Reading NH Governor Lynch's bio on Wiki, I did not find anything
that would label him as a "teamster".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lynch_(New_Hampshire" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Poor wording on my part, he is a very big supporter of the Teamsters.

I do not recall a Governor of NH in the last 50+ years
that did not support programs and policies pushed by the
Associated General Contractors of NH, otherwise known as the
highway lobby. I believe the current Governor is no exception.

There are currently bills working their way through the Legislature
to widen Interstate #93 and address the many "red list" bridges
situation. However, the bills proprose to pay for this work either
by Casino Gambling or selling Marijuana for recreational purposes.
What baloney. Time to raise the gas tax. No free lunches. But
the bottom line is likely to be no funding for any rail related programs,
in any case.

This is a very similar dynamic to the problems that Virginia had about 10-15 years ago. Serious congestion and infrastructure issues and no desire to really pay for them. Eventually a bipartisan consensus emerged that made it possible for new revenue streams (yes, taxes) to be created that made it possible for the State to fund the necessary transportation improvements.

Eventually the same thing is going to happen in New Hampshire and there is going to be some serious sticker shock when the bill comes due.