vexingsilence t1_j7vnnq9 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 7:02 PM

Reply to comment by batmansmotorcycle in Want passenger rail in Manchester? Make your voice heard by PurpleSubtlePlan

>You realize people can use it come into the state right?

Ever use the Lowell line? The trains fill up in the morning heading into Boston. They fill up in the evening heading back from Boston. The trains tend to be sparsely populated outside of that. There's not much reason to think that NH would see anything different.

You might get some traffic to MHT depending on how difficult it is to get from the train to the airport. But what else is going to draw people in?

batmansmotorcycle t1_j7vskf7 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 7:32 PM

Well let’s go up the line.

First stop is the pheasant lane mall. Tax Free Shopping Second stop is South Nashua. Further tax free shopping. Third stop is over on the Hudson Nashua line that will likely be commuters but the area could be updated with mixed use offerings. 4th stop is airport in Bedford and they have already stated they will have a shuttle on loop to bring you across the river. 5th and 6th stop is down town Manchester where you have the Fisher Cats, SNHU Arena and Palace Theater along with dozens of restaurants bars and specialty shops.

There is also plans for a bed down facility for the trains which means jobs for maintenance along with crew layovers.

vexingsilence t1_j7vx75w wrote on February 9, 2023 at 8:00 PM

I don't see the use in stopping at the Pheasant. Malls are dead. Amazon has taken over. The only reason to put a stop there would be to service the residential units that will eventually replace a lot of the retail sprawl that exists in that area. That's a stop that should probably only occur outside of commute hours.

What's the second stop in south Nashua? The Pheasant is south Nashua.

Fifth and sixth stops should probably be combined. That's way too many stops for a very long rail service. The longer it takes to get from one end to the other, the less useful it is. Commuters won't use something that takes significantly longer than if they just drove.

That's been part of the problem. Other towns along the line also want in, but there's a tipping point where there are so many stops that you can't actually get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. The strongest proposal, IMO, was Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, North Station. Four stops. It's short enough to beat a commuter's drive time, includes the most important cities.