Proposed Boston - Concord, NH Route Discussion

[Maverickstation1]

Here are some details on the Concord, NH service that ran from January 28th, 1980 to March 1, 1981.

In 1973, the MBTA bought the Lowell line, along with the Haverhill and all other local Greater Boston passenger lines. Along with the sale, the B&M contracted to run the passenger service on the Lowell line for the MBTA. After bankruptcy, the B&M continued to run and fulfill its commuter rail contract under the protection of the United States Bankruptcy Court, in the hopes that a reorganization could make it profitable again. It emerged from the court's protection when newly formed Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI) purchased it in 1983.

For approximately thirteen months in 1980-81, daily passenger service was provided to Concord. Two round-trips were operated on each weekday and one on weekend days. Originally, there were intermediate stops in Manchester and Nashua. A stop in Merrimack was added later. Service was discontinued when federal funding was withdrawn.[10]

The stations with the distance from North Station shown.

7 Nashua 39.0 Nashua Closed June 30, 1967; open from January 28, 1980 to March 1, 1981[9]
8 Merrimack 46.1 Merrimack Open from April 1980 to March 1, 1981[9]
10 Manchester 55.5 Manchester Closed June 30, 1967; open from January 28, 1980 to March 1, 1981[9]
13 Concord 73.3 Concord Closed June 30, 1967; open from January 28, 1980 to March 1, 1981[9]
[

Ken

[mbrproductions]

Wow, thanks for the fascinating information Ken, I remember reading that the service was also a success with ridership being really good. It all makes you wonder why federal funding was ceased to the service, but then again, the federal government likely isn't very worried about a 55 mile Commuter Rail line connecting Boston and Southern N.H.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Well, "back in my day", or when I first laid eyes up that way during July '52, here was the Concord station back then.

It was chopped down in favor of a "Patshack" sufficient for his "surviving" RDC's to tie up at.

Finally, with regards to the Concord captioning, there could be confusion with Nashua Union Station. To establish "which is which", here is the latter noted.

[J.D. Lang]

My mom worked as a clerk for the B&M in the Concord NH station during the WWII years. I remember her taking me down there in the mid 50's. It had a large train shed covering the station tracks. It was an impressive looking building for this small kid back in my days. We also took an RDC from North Station too Manchester to visit some relatives then to Concord to visit more relatives in the early 60's. As I recall both of those stations were small white cinder block buildings and the old station in Concord was gone by then.

[Allouette]

The cinderblock station in Concord was used by Concord Trailways (now Concord Coach) until at least the mid 1980s. I don't know if tickets for the train were sold there but the waiting room was open.

[charlesriverbranch]

Wow, thanks for the fascinating information Ken, I remember reading that the service was also a success with ridership being really good. It all makes you wonder why federal funding was ceased to the service, but then again, the federal government likely isn't very worried about a 55 mile Commuter Rail line connecting Boston and Southern N.H.

The incoming Reagan administration was not friendly to passenger rail. They tried to shut down Amtrak entirely; I remember seeing a poster in the Salinas, CA Amtrak station in 1984 warning of the imminent shutdown of Amtrak; thankfully, Amtrak had enough friends in Congress that the shutdown was averted.

[MickD]

Personally, as a resident of Massachusetts,
as much I'd love to be able to train up to Concord
when I was able,there's no way this should be
considered without funding input from New Hampshire..
It's that much more beneficial to that state than ours..
The folks that Have to commute to Boston from over the state line
are gonna' have to to do it one way or another
by rail or not..

[artman]

The incoming Reagan administration was not friendly to passenger rail. They tried to shut down Amtrak entirely; I remember seeing a poster in the Salinas, CA Amtrak station in 1984 warning of the imminent shutdown of Amtrak; thankfully, Amtrak had enough friends in Congress that the shutdown was averted.

I can confirm this. Also, the service was a shell of what was originally considered. There was only one round trip per day, south in the AM and north in the PM. Skeleton service. And yes, NH should pay for it

[mbrproductions]

NH will have to pay for it, that's whats getting the ultra-libertarian wonks up there really going

[atlantis]

It was always my humble opinion that the experimental rail service to Concord NH was set up to fail, by providing only two rush hour round trips a day, later dropped to one round trip a day. This way, the then-nascent anti-rail leadership of New Hampshire could say, "See, it's a train, nobody's going to ride it. See,.see!"

[mbrproductions]

I agree with you, an alleged "Commuter Rail" line that runs twice a day is ridiculous, and yet it was still popular and considered a mild success (mild only because of its abysmal schedule) but it seems 40 years later the tides have changed for the better thankfully, a few days ago a Layover yard site in Manchester was approved by the aldermen of Manchester, NH, article here...
https://manchesterinklink.com/aldermen- ... rail-line/

It seems more likely at this point that the line will be ran by the MBTA to Manchester, with Amtrak possibly running up to Concord sometime later in the future

[lordsigma12345]

They may be going after both ideas so they can go after both FTA and FRA dollars - FTA for a commuter rail extension and FRA for Amtrak’s idea and possibly split the capital costs between both. Both have new grant programs under the IIJA. Concord is getting a little far for a commuter rail service so you’d probably be looking at intercity rail service for there. You also may get approved for one and not the other.

[mbrproductions]

Both would be under FRA dollars, I believe the MBTA Commuter Rail falls under the FRA's jurisdiction along with many other Commuter Railroads in the country

[Trinnau]

Commuter Rail walks a line between both the FTA and FRA if it is part of a state agency, which most, if not all are. The nuts-and-bolts railroading is all FRA, but there are certain things the FTA is responsible for and participates in. Intercity rail such as Amtrak is strictly FRA.

[lordsigma12345]

Exactly - they fall under FRA for regulatory and safety of the railroading itself, but as far as grants and money commuter rail operated by state transit agencies like the MBTA receives most of its funding from transit grants which are administered by the FTA. This is because commuter railroads are both passenger railroads and most of them also meet the definition of transit - intercity passenger railroads like Amtrak are passenger railroads but NOT transit. There may be some exceptions to that such as FRA recently having a grant program for PTC installation and other safety related things, but funding for major upgrades and stations and the like is going to come from transit dollars (or possibly split between transit and intercity grants if an asset is shared with Amtrak service.) To make matters more confusing there are now regional services that can look much like commuter rail operations and use the same type of equipment that are technically intercity feeder or regional routes under the Obama era HSIPR program which receive FRA managed dollars - this program was part of the Obama ARRA stimulus bill and services established under the program were required to have a competitive bid for the operator (Amtrak lost out to private operator TASI in that case.) An example of this is the relatively new Hartford Line program in Connecticut. There are also service standards and ADA standards set by both agencies which have to be followed by agencies. The MBTA commuter rail service qualifies as a transit program and receives transit funding like its bus, subway, ferry, and trolley programs.