An amendment to remove the rail study from the 10-year transportation funding plan passed by 12 votes – and at least 16 Hillsborough County delegates were absent from the voting process on Thursday, which could have changed the outcome.
“The House Public Works and Highways Committee has a unique opportunity to leverage federal dollars at no cost to New Hampshire taxpayers and take the next step in the process of expanding passenger rail from Boston to Manchester,” said Michael Izbicki, Chairman of the NH Rail Transit Authority.
Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of 880 New Hampshire voters from October 16-18, 2015. The survey asked respondents about a variety of topics, including prospective 2016 election match-ups and several anticipated 2016 campaign issues, including rail expansion in New Hampshire.
The rail proposal builds on the December 2014 Capitol Corridor Rail & Transit Study by focusing on the potential route which would reach maximum job growth per dollar of invested capital, and it add
SB 88 allows NH Rail Transit Authority to operate more efficiently and SB 63 establishes a legislative committee to study public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects.
According to the study, the Manchester Regional Rail alternative would create approximately 230 jobs through construction of the rail line and an additional 3,390 construction jobs would be created to build real estate development generated by rail.
Bi-partisan bill will look at ways to move forward with rail using a private/public partnership.
Am I for it? Yes, but as a student of Manchester history, I am also quite aware of the mayhem that both freight and passenger trains have rained down on our community in years past.
Policymakers need to have a clear picture on the costs and benefits of passenger rail before making a final decision on whether or not to invest in it, which is why funding the engineering and environmental analysis phase is so critical. New Hampshire cannot afford to ignore exploring economic opportunities like passenger rail.”
The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce recently joined together to advocate for the NH Senate to restore funding in the Governor’s budget that would allow the State to continue pursuing passenger rail in southern NH along the Capitol Corridor.