Potential MBTA Southern NH Service

Why should a Massachusetts agency fund a study regarding another state's rail service?

Requires work on both sides of the border, therefore there should be two studies!!

There will not be any additional service offered within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I thought you were opposed to frivolous spending.

Unlike the MA state government and their employees I am against wasting money, but can't see NH paying for a study of track conditions in MA. But if this is a NH led project I guess they would have to. If they forgo Nashua / Bedford/ Merrimack / Concord and only do the state line station in South Nashua - would NH have to pay for service from Lowell to South Nashua or just the fraction of a mile that is in NH?

The path for the service is not important. NH needs to pay for the cost associated with getting service TO their stop. As far as the infrastructure goes, it's T property up to state line, track upgrades to that point are the responsibility of MA. The T doesn't need to study track upgrades. Economic, environmental, and feasibility studies (all of which I think are ridiculous) are NH's to do.

CRail wrote:Economic, environmental, and feasibility studies (all of which I think are ridiculous) are NH's to do.

I agree, it's what screwed over South Coast Rail so badly

CRail wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2024 11:24 am The path for the service is not important. NH needs to pay for the cost associated with getting service TO their stop. As far as the infrastructure goes, it's T property up to state line, track upgrades to that point are the responsibility of MA. The T doesn't need to study track upgrades. Economic, environmental, and feasibility studies (all of which I think are ridiculous) are NH's to do.

Commuter rail in NH has been studied, studied and studied.. A few years back, NH, through a Federal Grant that was at no cost to the NH Taxpayer, studied what it would take to build, operate, who would ride it, and how much would it all cost. I believe the NH legislature put an end to future commuter rail studies. At the present time, The NH State Gov't, seems to have zero interest in putting up the state's portion of the federal funding to build it, maintain it, and pay the MBTA operate the service. Granite Staters will have suffer in traffic to Boston for the foreseeable future.

BandA wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 8:13 pm Unlike the MA state government and their employees I am against wasting money,

As an employee of the Commonwealth I can tell you we do our best to not waste your money. If you feel we are wasting your money have the lawmakers change the laws that call for the studies.

ARTICLE: "How SNHU Could Be Connected By Passenger Rail"
https://penmenpress.com/2024/02/19/how- ... nger-rail/

SNHUdents who have lived on the west side of campus know about the train tracks running along the Merrimack River. However, most do not know that those train tracks run far up north and south. It’s called the New Hampshire Main Line, and it runs 50 miles from Lowell, MA to Concord, NH. It connects the three largest cities in New Hampshire: Manchester, Nashua, and Concord, respectively.

If a passenger rail was implemented between all of these cities, it would enable travel by train for more than 250,000 New Hampshire residents (American Community Survey, 2022). For SNHU, this means commuters could access campus without having to drive.

The possibility of intercity rail travel might not be distant; a project is underway called the Capital Corridor, a collaboration between NHDOT and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to extend the commuter rail service from Lowell to Manchester. It would use 9 miles of MBTA’s existing track and 21 miles of NH Main Line track, currently owned by Pan Am railways. Along with train service would come four new commuter rail stations: South Nashua, NH (Pheasant Lane Mall), Downtown Nashua (Crown St, off of E Hollis St), Bedford, NH/MHT Station (South River Rd, under the Airport Access Road) and Downtown Manchester, NH (off of Elm St, next to Market Basket).

jbvb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 9:34 pm while rail trails that share with active rail exist I've never seen one, and I'm not sure there are any in New England.

Try the Blackstone Bikeway that parallels the P&W from Woonsocket south for a number of miles that runs along the second track's ROW - and even shares bridge piers with the active main line. Granted, there aren't that many trains running along it, but it's very much both an active rail line with trail and certainly in New England.

There are also two rail trails in Boston that parallel active and busy rights of way. The new Community Path extension follows the MBTA Lowell line for about two miles in to Somerville. And the Neponset River Greenway follows the Mattapan High Speed Line for about 1.5 miles.

Some might argue that the Southwest Corridor bike path also falls in to this category, but I think it's not so clear when the route was widened for the purpose of building a freeway, and then the new ROW repurposed as a park.