A new study finds significant demand for high speed rail service between Boston and Montreal.
But as NHPR?s David Darman reports, the service is by no means a sure thing in the region?s future.
Consultants for the Boston Montreal project shared their findings at a meeting with 50 people in Concord.
Ron O?Blenis is with New York based engineering firm Parsons/Brinkerhoff.
O?Blenis said more than six hundred thousand people a year might take the train if it travels at 110 miles per hour, and is cost competitive with driving and taking a bus.
07 34 what we?ve found, interestingly enough, is its not a business related service. There are business travelers who would use it. But the primary users would be tourism and recreational based, ie, the general public versus business travelers. 07 49
The train would travel through New Hampshire from Nashua to Lebanon.
Part of the rail corridor is owned by the state of New Hampshire.
State transportation officials say they are encouraged by the findings.
Gil Rogers, D-O-T assistant commissioner, says the high speed train could fit into an intermodal system that the state is beginning to establish.
13 30 we need to have rail, and airplanes, and buses and people on bicycles, and on foot in addition to people in autos as part of the solution. ?13 45
But some politicians question the project?s financial feasibility.
Senator Clifton Below of Lebanon attended the Concord meeting.
He shared his concerns over the telephone.
30 37 there is the potential passenger base. ?but what we still have no idea about is what it would cost to deliver this kind of service and what it would cost to operate this kind of service. 30 49
Rail experts say the line could be built for about two billion dollars.
But New Hampshire would have to pay its share of the next phase of the study to get more accurate cost estimates.
New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts are sharing the cost of the study with the federal government.
But each state is facing a budget shortfall this year.
The editor of Atlantic Norteast Rails and Ports in Maine says one other obstacle may also hold back the project.
Chop Hardenberg says other high speed rail projects around the country will compete with Boston to Montreal for funding.
22 50 the one I think is going to get the most attention is the mid west high speed rail corridor. Which runs in a rough triangle between st louis, Chicago and Minneapolis. And that seems to have a lot of political will behind it in the Midwest. 22 105
Even if all goes well for the project, rail experts caution people not to get too excited yet about the possible service.
The earliest date projected for the train is sometime around 2025.
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