Friends, foes of commuter rail square off
Apr. 19—CONCORD — Manchester and Nashua business and political leaders clashed with fiscal conservatives over whether to adopt a law that bans using any state dollars on the proposed commuter rail project from Boston to southern New Hampshire.
Leaders of the Greater Manchester and Nashua chambers of commerce said the bill could stop any progress on the Capitol Corridor Project even as the state is awaiting the results of a $5.4 million report on engineering, finances and environmental issues.
"This has the potential to have a transformative impact and now isn't the time to bring it all to a halt," Nashua Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Wendy Hunt told the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.
But Drew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, said now is the perfect time to rule out making state taxpayers bail out the cost as train travel has plummeted since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The market-driven think tank concluded that adjusting a 2014 Department of Transportation (DOT) study for inflation, the annual cost to operate could be up to $12.8 million and construction costs could be near $300 million.
Cline said the DOT estimates for ridership were 2,866 passengers for 32 trips a day on trains to from Boston to Nashua and on to Manchester.
"We are talking about 89 people per train; that is not going to solve our traffic congestion problems," Cline said.
The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) would bring these New Hampshire rail passengers from Lowell, Mass., to Boston and their ridership now is a third of what it was in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
"The ongoing projections are not because of COVID; they are because of remote work," Cline said.
The state's director of aeronautics, rail and transportation warned, however, the bill as written (HB 1432) could prevent the state from paying the Manchester consultant completing this development phase study by the end of 2022.
The bill would outlaw devoting to the project any past turnpike spending known as toll credits.
Patrick Herlihy said the agency is counting on using these toll credits as the required 20% state match to pay for this study once it's completed at the end of 2022.
Last month, the N.H. House approved the bill, 181-144.
Rep. David Watters, D-Dover, said all mass transit projects have some subsidies.
"Why is it just this project signaled out for this prohibition, and no other modes of transportation?" Watters asked rhetorically.
Rep. Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, said his constituents live on the "wrong side of the river" and would have to pay to support but get little benefit from the train.
"We believe in user taxes and sin taxes; this would be a real big example of diverting from that philosophy," Edwards said.
Dan Kelly, a member of the Nashua Rail Committee, said federal officials have approved the sale of Pan Am to CSX and the buying company could become a better partner to any passenger rail endeavor.
"I agree that its passage can be overturned at a later date, but why introduce additional complexities and inefficiencies into the legislative process," Kelly wrote the Senate panel.
"Get the facts and vote as informed legislators in the next legislative session."
Last month, Gov. Chris Sununu said he didn't oppose the project but had questions about its affordability.
"Tell me how we're going to pay for it, because it's really, really expensive," Sununu told seven chambers of commerce during a forum at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
Sununu also has criticized having the MBTA run the rail service.
