Commuter Rail to New Hampshire?

TheRatmeister said:
Obviously not, but if Nashua is open to hosting a layover yard they could probably get the T to fund part of the extension.
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The T can only fund to the state line and slush some funds to CSX under the guise of "freight improvements" for building the layover yard to T spec on the unused back portions of Nashua freight yard. That's the lion's share of the work, and they'd definitely be willing to pay because of the ops improvements and in-district constituency the extension would serve. Thankfully there's little permitting involved for the layover because it's tucked inside a century-active freight yard. Nashua only has to square 4.5 miles of presumably single-track running track improvements (resurfacing, welded rail...it's already Class 3/60 MPH) and signaling improvements (adding cab signals + ACSES positive train control to the existing recently renewed signal system). There are thankfully no bridges on those 4.5 miles, and only 1 public grade crossing (Crown St., which needs a do-over and some signal mods so trains turning on the adjacent platform can override gates-down) and 1 very minor private grade crossing. A fairly modest-sized Fed grant...again ostensibly under the guise of "freight improvements"...would do the whole job. The bigger struggle the city has is how it's going to pay for the 2 stations. The most up-to-date cost projections from the recent study were sufficiently blowout that they're probably going to struggle with that if the Feds aren't willing to grant them most of the way.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The bigger struggle the city has is how it's going to pay for the 2 stations. The most up-to-date cost projections from the recent study were sufficiently blowout that they're probably going to struggle with that if the Feds aren't willing to grant them most of the way.
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If there's an issue with station construction funding, the City of Nashua could focus on building the station at Crown Street first, and South Nashua could be built later as an infill station.
 
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themissinglink said:
If there's an issue with station construction funding, the City of Nashua could focus on building the station at Crown Street first, and South Nashua could be built later as an infill station.
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The Oct. 2022 cost estimate for South Nashua was $21.2M, and Crown St. for $21.9M. South Nashua was to be primarily funded by federal funds and NHDOT; Crown St. was to be primarily funded by the city. Both estimates are a bit overinflated because the parking is pre-existing at both sites. South Nashua has about 2-1/2 times the parking capacity of Crown St., and Crown St. has 3 buses. There isn't a ridership projection for each, though, since the truncated 2022-23 study didn't get far enough to benchmark that before it was aborted and the 2014 study only specced one Nashua stop.

I guess it's jump-ball which one should go first. If it's possible to get any fed funding for stations, South Nashua might take priority since that was how it was slotted before.
 
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