New Hampshire Commuter Rail Discussion

[Rockingham Racer]

All well and good; now who's going to spend the millions to upgrade the line to 60 MPH?

And, what do people think about a Tyngsboro and N. Chelmsford station stop? My though on Tyngsboro: too small, and too close to the mystery site in S. Nashua. N. Chelmsford might work.

[NHN503]

All well and good; now who's going to spend the millions to upgrade the line to 60 MPH?

Most likely the typical 80% Fed with 20% local match that is generally used in transit projects.

[shadyjay]

All well and good; now who's going to spend the millions to upgrade the line to 60 MPH?

Exactly, RRacer. All this results so far is the formation of a committee to study commuter rail in NH. Funding aside, there is still an uphill battle to deal with Pan-Am. Does the Downeaster ring a bell?

While I admire NH's thinking here, there is still a LONG road ahead. I'm guessing it'll be another 10-15 years before a passenger boards a train at Nashua, though I could be wrong, and hope I am, for NH's sake.

[trainhq]

North Chelmsford would probably get a stop, near where Route 40 hits 3a. They have some land there for parking, and there are about 5 roads converging at that location. Tyngsborough probably wouldn't get a stop, at least not right away; they might add one later if enough people ask for it.

[cpf354]

All well and good; now who's going to spend the millions to upgrade the line to 60 MPH?

Exactly, RRacer. All this results so far is the formation of a committee to study commuter rail in NH. Funding aside, there is still an uphill battle to deal with Pan-Am. Does the Downeaster ring a bell?

While I admire NH's thinking here, there is still a LONG road ahead. I'm guessing it'll be another 10-15 years before a passenger boards a train at Nashua, though I could be wrong, and hope I am, for NH's sake.

I read that Pan Am has no objections to commuter rail service to Nashua or beyond, and at one time was mentioned as a possible operator.

[l008com]

I highly doubt pan am would ever want to run passenger trains. But as far as they go, they get free track upgrades and other income, so it does work out for them.

As far as passenger service in nashua being 10-15 years away... I thought they were ALREADY building the station last year, out of their own pocket cause the state wouldn't give them any money? I thought I even saw pictures?

[Rockingham Racer]

They are still looking for sites for the 2 stations AFAIK. The only money "out there" right now is $1 million for the stations in Nashua and Manchester. At $500,00 for each one, they probably won't be very substantial, unless the cities themselves kick in some dough.

[stevo]

there has been no station construction in nashua, i can tell you that much.

[djlong]

Where one might have thought there was station construction was from Nashua passing a "tax enterprise zone" to fund a station and the fact that Nashua Landing, a retail 'lifestyle center' was supposed to have a rail station integrated into the design.

A month or two ago, it was announced that the rail station was dropped from the Nashua Landing plans. However, officials *claim* they have another site between Exits 1 and 2 on the Turnpike but they're not saying what parcel it is because they haven't yet contacted the owner (and presumably don't want the price jacked up even further).

[gunsanplanes]

There was an article in todays' Lawrence Eagle Tribune about the town of Derry looking to get the unpaved section of bed paved.
The section in question is in between the newly-paved Windham section, and the older paved trail in the town proper...a length of a bit over 2 miles.
The article said Derry already owned all the bed, and anticipated the paving to be done fairly quickly.

The article also made mention that Salem got state money, and was already engineering the paving of it's few miles of bed.

[b&m 1566]

They just finished the foot bridge going over the new route 111 section and I must say it looks very nice (would be nicer looking if it was a railroad bridge). The last remaining crossing in Salem was removed over the summer near Denny's (Kelly Rd. and Hampshire Rd. tracks are paved over). There's a sign on the old depot advertising the restoration of the station that’s soon to begin. I heard word that they want to put a caboose on display as well. Tracks in front of the depot and going up to Dodge Grain are still in place so the Caboose will be able to sit right on those if and when they find a caboose.

[l008com]

Maybe they can buy that strange caboose thats stuck in someone's back yard in winchester. Not sure how authentic it would be for the M&L, but then again if they really wanted authenticity, they'd be after a centerbeam lumber car

[Guilford Guy]

Maybe they can buy that strange caboose thats stuck in someone's back yard in winchester. Not sure how authentic it would be for the M&L, but then again if they really wanted authenticity, they'd be after a centerbeam lumber car

Well it was used by the B&M
http://photos.nerail.org/search/searchr ... er+caboose

[b&m 1566]

I saw this picture on NErail. Figured I would post it for those of you who have not see the picture yet of the new foot bridge located in Windham.
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 26%20Maine

[thomas81z]

arent they trying to get passenger service up 28 to concord??