YOUR COMMENTS

Bob Watts, do us a favor. Stay in MA. We don't want your opinion up here. You already ruined your state with voting for taxes, and you have trains. Enjoy!
- Adam F., Merrimack

So many of the anti-train sentiments are based on old outmoded me first attitudes.
If you hate taxes so much stop using services. Your car, the fuel it uses and the highways it runs on are all supported by taxes. Car factories are more and more built in union free states by companies that got huge tax breaks to do so. Oil companies are supported by incredible tax "incentives" and do you ink the highways are a gift from God?
We are cretures that are interdependent. Contrary to conservative dogma government is efficient means to spread value across the culture. Give trains a shot and you won't regret it.
- Bob Watts, Georgetown, MA

The nay-sayers above all seem to strike a common chord - they are not getting the big picture. Looking at the cost/benefit ratio as simply the dollars in vs. dollars out totally excludes all the economic benefits Mark outlined. As taxpayers we subsidize lots of things we don't all directly use - jails and schools for example. I feel it's been adequately proven that paying for a rail infrastructure is in the common interest of all for not only the good, safe transportation option it offers, but also for the environmental payoff. As for the potential for increased crime, this was certainly a concern prior to the onset of the Downeaster, but I haven't seen one speck of evidence that there has been any increase attributable to the train. Criminals can drive cars up I-93 pretty easily.
- Steve, Dover, NH

My grandfather worked the BnM for 40 years, and when he was a kid they had rail service to Boston, from the Bow Mills stop at the end of Hwy 89, mostly due to an underdeveloped road system, which is now happening for the opposite reason... Anyways, I've spent many years abroad and every country I've visited has 'public' transportation. In Korea, for example, this was the prefered method of getting anywhere in country from Pusan, to the DMZ. I am glad to see we are catching up with the rest of the world.

I used to work for the former president of BMA/BnM and I asked him why he didn't start a rail service from Boston to Loon w/ stops at Laconia and Weirs Beach Concord, MHT, Bedford, ASH. He wasn't much of a visionary nor orator, his response was stick to flying kid... Probably why nothing has happend from them. Personally I believe this should have happened 10 years ago. Living next to Hwy89 and 93 I've seen the congestion (the need) and can't understand why any smart business man wouldn't (if they owned a railroad) JUMP at the opportunity to provide this public service. Hell, I know I'd take my family to see a few more SOX games if there were a train to BOS! And I'm sure those who would still commute with their cars would appreciate the reduction in Friday afternoon Lake or Skiing Traffic!

I'd like to know why Boston and Maine, who owns the rail allong this route, hasn't taken on this venture?
- Anthony, Bow, NH

Its the same old same old with the "Choo Choo" loving crowd. There is no train because no one wants a train. If there were thousands of folks who wanted the train, there would be a train. What it comes down to, you want me as a taxpayer to fund the choo choo. I don't want to fund the choo choo. I am funding the Amtrak train now, yet I've never been on one. The cost of a ticket is high and the time it takes to go from one station to another is long. That is why we have airplanes! If you want to start a choo choo company, raise the money, set up the service and take your chances in the market place. Stop asking me for money,,,
- tom, manchester, nh

Comments about subsidies for trains ignore the actual and implied subsidies that are now in place for roads. Fuel taxes, tolls and other user fees cover only 50-60% of the direct costs of roads, and this doesn't include the indirect highway costs caused by additional pollution, additional deaths and injuries, and additional dependence on foreign oil that are maximized by highway use. As for the economic benefits of trains, the developers of the $100 million Island Point project in Saco, Maine have repeatedly said that they wouldn't have moved forward without the Downeaster, and that's just one of several projects already moving ahead along the line as the result of passenger rail service (not to mention the accelerated increase in property values for all real estate near teh line).
- F. Bruce Sleeper, Portland, Maine

Oil is running out, we will eventually need it, and it won't be available, because fuel wasting cars and trucks have burned it all.
There will come a time when we have no choice, we need to prepare for that now, not some time down the road.
- Amber Thompson, Groveton

I would also like to see the route that runs from Concord to Montreal via White River Jct re-established.
- Steve W, Hooksett

Moving commuters efficiently between Manchester and Boston is a 20th century solution. No energy is saved, and money is wasted.

Perhaps a fraction of the rail cost should be invested in a 21st century communications infrastructure statewide, allowing the free flow of information.

That way, NH taxpayers in the northern counties aren't subsidizing a cozy commute for those who drive into Massachusetts each day.
- Kate Davis, Granite

Numerous folks have pointed to the recent "success" of the Downeaster as evidence for a NH train. However, keep in mind that despite the increased ridership, the Downeaster's budget is still hemorrhaging. In addition, the original federal grant used to start the Downeaster is running out so Maine taxpayers are faced with a large ongoing bill to keep the train running.

Also, using ridership as a measure of "success" is misleading. If someone subsidized my gasoline purchases I would drive more. Since taxpayers are subsidizing the Downeaster, its no surprise that folks would take advantage of the subsidy. If price were set at breakeven for the service, what would the ridership numbers look like?
- Scott, Gardiner, ME

To Mike R. in Bedford,

If commuter rail is such a looser, than why do I know so many new hampshire residents coming down to connecticut for jobs? the good economy in fairfield county is a direct result of money earned by all those rail commuters working in new york city and living in the 'burbs.
- Alex, Stamford, CT

Economically, commuter trains make no sense at all since the only way a rider can afford the train ride is if huge taxpayer subsidies are in place. Commuter trains are just another warm fuzzy idea that will also be a huge waste of taxpayers money. The only plan these trains should stimulate is a plan to vote out those that proposed it.
- AJ, Windham

This "fiscal conservative" thinks this is a bunch of raise-taxes idiocy from liberals. Again.

Crime ALWAYS goes up along rail lines. Do we want Bedford looking like rail lines elsewhere? Go visit other places and look at the view from the trains. It's not exactly nice suburbs!
- Mike R., Bedford

Sing the monorail song from "The Simpsons" whenever someone comes up with this scheme again.

Money out of YOUR pockets, taxpayers, to bring more vehicle-lacking undesirables up from Lawrence! Yay!
- Jeff, Bedford

Bob from Easton, Ma. is absolutely correct! Amtrak is a money pit. Look at all the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars used to prop up this failing giant. And commuter rail is no different. Look at Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Miami, etc. as examples of how their commuter rail soaks taxpayers. Besides, commuter rail is often nicknamed "mugger movers" because it attracts criminals from the cities to come out to the burbs and carjack, kill, rape, and so on.
- Brian, N. Sutton

I didn't get past the first sentence. With it containing three lies, I see no further need.

Trains can only be considered efficient if you ignore subsidies and physics.

Trains can only be considered quick if you ignore the time waiting to board, extra time required to go out of your way to get to and from the stops, and if you only go to places near where the stops are.

And safety? Sure, if you ignore all the accidents endangerment trains cause.

Trains have a complete record of failure with not one case of success in the last 50 years.
- Ron Helwig, Deerfield

How do you have mass transit in a rural state? On its face, that makes no sense. A region in rural because it has less people. So how do you impliment a cost effective mass transit plan? Estimates in yesterday's paper were $200 million for start up costs. What about future costs? NH is not an urban area, thankfully. We do not need and can not afford mass transit in the form of a train. It may seem like an appealing idea to some, but until the long term financial questions can be solved, it is a bad idea.
- Tom, Manchester

Every time the rail alternative has come up it's received little support - just like alternative energy. If, as some suggest, the price of fuel continues to rise or there is some international event that makes it an acute problem, we will again be left with our hands tied to solving the problem that always seems to come with a ten-year time frame. The time to act was yesterday.
- Elle, Manchester

This editorial is spot on. We should begin this project as soon as possible. I would certainly take advantage of a train to Boston. I think it is also way overdue that folks in Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and Lowell have a convenient way to travel between cities.
- Chuck, Nashua

If You Like Taxes You'll Love Commuter Rail. - Don't believe these cost / benefit projections by rail advocates for a second. They have been singing the same song here for 20 years trying to get a commuter rail extension to New Bedford.

It's just a bunch of BS! !

The projections down here started at $150 million and are now at $2.5 BILLION, and they aren't done yet. - Every time someone takes the train it costs the taxpayer $35 over and above the fare being collected. - Estimates of added economic benefit are lies, just look at the new line on the South Shore to Scituate or the line through Brockton. - Brockton is decaying before our eyes. Crime has risen to the point there that their is a contingent of State Police assigned to bolster the city police. - If You Like Taxes You'll Love Commuter Rail
- Bob, Easton, Ma

Are you tryiing to tell us the Downeaster did this..."...as well as 17,000 new jobs and 40,000 new residences, investments that would not occur without rail service." Please prove the connection how 1000 people a day riding the train generates 40,000 houses. Isn't the Conservation Law Foundation suing the I-93 project because they claim it will bring 40,000 new homes to So. NH and this is harmful to the environment and contributes to Urban sprawl. They think we should all work close to home so we can walk and not rely on trains and highways. An the CLF also wants trains running down the center of I-93. Just think of all the new homes that will add to So. NH if we use the Downeaster model.
- Joe, Londonderry

With energy costs driving ever upward, it makes no sense at all to NOT have rail service in NH. I would love to be able to hop a train to Boston for a day of sightseeing, attending a sporting event or something like that. Saving on gas, wear and tear (on me and the car), and parking fee would make my Boston trips more frequent and enjoyable.
- Steve, Nashua

It's true that our culture needs to change for rail to work efficiently and profitably, but I think using it as an excuse for not instituting rail is equally problematic. Amtrak's Downeaster that runs from Portland ME was recently reported as having the greatest growth of all segments.
- R, Raymond

I also would like to have a train route established. I would love it if I could take a train from Manchester to Concord every day and then walk to work. That would easily save me $50-75 a week in gas and tolls. Not only would it save me money, but it would help the environment greatly.

NH should be a pioneer in mass transit for rural states. We can do it, it just takes a little investment to get big returns (like the article says) in the future.
- Chris G., Manchester, NH

Let's not forget there is already a public transportation in NH that runs 4 or more times a day for 9 months of the year.

School buses already cover most of the state on a regular basis. US Cities already use public transportation for its needs, and European cities and towns do the same.
- Leonard Campbell, Center Harbor, NH

"Build it and they will come" is a great concept, but people are not going to be a convenienced as with their own car. That culture needs to change, if the system is going to work.
- Leonard Campbell, Center Harbor, NH

I would love to see the trains brought back, however they need to be priced so that everyone can use them. The cost is terrible at this time.
- sue, epping, nh

I for one support the development of rail service here in NH. I believe with the right investment we can have rail before 2012. We as a state must also include all stakeholders in this plan. That includes the citizens throught the state as well as businesses who could advertise on the rail to increase consumer sales. With careful planning and ensuring that we don't place the complete cost on the taxpayer then rail service could in fact work out to be a return on investment (ROI). Let's all do our part to spread the word that rail will help move New Hampshire forward.
- Robert M Tarr, Manchester