Downeaster boosts hopes for NH rail (editorial)
While New Hampshire officials await word on their second bid for a $1.4 million federal rail grant, perhaps they can take some encouragement from what?s happening less than 100 miles away in their neighbor to the north.
First, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority announced last week that Amtrak?s Downeaster service finished the fiscal year with an increase in ridership over the previous year and an all-time high in ticket revenue.
Then, on Monday, Maine and federal rail officials marked the ceremonial start of a two-year construction project to expand Downeaster passenger rail service between Portland and Brunswick, thanks to a $35 million infusion of federal stimulus money.
That?s the kind of activity New Hampshire passenger rail enthusiasts can only dream about as they await the next step in the process to restore commuter rail service to the southern part of the state.
While all its New England neighbors got a portion of $8 billion set aside for high-speed passenger rail projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the state was shut out in its bid for a mere $1.4 million for design and engineering work on its New Hampshire Capitol Rail Corridor.
That project, which was approved in 2008, calls for providing passenger rail service from Concord to Boston at speeds up to 79 mph in less than 90 minutes. When complete, up to six passenger rail stations would be built in Concord, downtown Manchester, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Merrimack, Hooksett and Nashua.
Should the state be successful in this round of funding ? it should know sometime this fall ? then the next step would be to apply for $300 million to cover its capital costs, which would include a locomotive and rail cars, four train stations and the necessary track improvements along the 73-mile corridor.
But additional federal funding isn?t the only hitch ? there?s still the matter of working out an agreement with Pan Am Railways, which has emerged as a key obstacle to the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority?s plans to provide daily passenger rail service between Concord and Boston.
Pan Am, which owns the track between Concord and the Massachusetts line, broke off negotiations last year after state transportation officials blocked its bid to operate a freight line between Milford and Bennington.
Coincidentally, Pan Am also owns the track in Maine, but it has an agreement with Amtrak to operate the Downeaster between Portland and Boston. In fact, David Fink, the president of Pan Am Railways, was among the dignitaries present for Monday?s ceremony marking the beginning of the 35-mile expansion of rail service between Portland and Brunswick.
During the fiscal year that ended June 30, ridership on the Downeaster rose 1 percent over the previous year to 474,058 passengers. To put that figure into some perspective, the Portland-to-Boston rail service carried 245,135 passengers in its initial year, meaning ridership has nearly doubled during that eight-year period.
Moreover, ticket revenue reached a record high of $6.7 million, which pretty much equaled the combined federal ($5.3 million) and state ($1.3 million) subsidies for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Closer to home, we have been a strong advocate for reintroducing passenger rail service between Nashua and Boston for a long time ? hence its spot this year on our Agenda 2010.
And while we don?t object to the state?s more expansive plan to provide rail service between Concord and Boston, our primary interest is in the Nashua-to-Boston leg, which but for a one-year pilot program in 1981 hasn?t been an option for Greater Nashua commuters in 43 years.
We can only hope the excitement that was evident Monday among train enthusiasts in Maine will soon be felt here in southern New Hampshire as well.