On Monday, a commuter train is scheduled to run between Lowell, Massachusetts, and Manchester.
The trip is being hosted by Second District Congressman Charles Bass, to demonstrate the possibility of rail service to the Queen City.
Several state, municipal, and business leaders have signed on to take the ride.
And as New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman reports, they're planning to climb on board to show their interest in reviving the railroad in the state.
Congressman Charles Bass has long worked to make passenger rail a reality in New Hampshire.
He's secured millions in federal funds for the project that's underway to bring commuter rail from Lowell to Nashua.
He says now's the time to think about extending that line another 16 miles to Manchester.
....this is just an effort to bring attention and build excitement amongst nh people and community and municipal leaders to the idea that if we're really serious about this, we can do it. its not going to be inexpensive. its not going to be easy. but it would be nice if in my lifetime i could see a train going from manchester all the way to lowell, massachusetts.
Manchester Mayor Bob Baines says he's in complete agreement with Congressman Bass.
He's also eager to see commuter rail established to Lowell, and ultimately to Boston.
Baines says we're all too reliant on our cars.
we need to get people off the highways. our highways are getting clogged. our airways are getting clogged and we need to look as a country to rail as a solution, and also a way for people to relax when they're being transported.
Manchester's business community has also made establishing train service a priority.
Members of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce say they've been inspired by the success of Amtrak's Downeaster train.
It connects Boston to Portland, Maine, through New Hampshire's seacoast.
Chris Williams is vice president of the Manchester Chamber.
He says he thinks rail service would help attract more companies to the central part of New Hampshire.
we feel here in manchester that we have a lot of assets that we can offer prospective business owners. but the one thing that we've are missing right now is that multi-modal transportation. we have the airport and we have the highways. but we need the train to come in and really complete the puzzle.
Manchester Airport would also likely gain passengers if a commuter line connected it to Boston.
Airport officials say the fastest growing segment of airline passengers comes from Northern Massachusetts.
But before a train could get to Manchester, the Nashua commuter rail project would have to be completed.
That 80 million dollar project has been underway for about 10 years, but its still at least 4 years away from completion.
Steve Williams is the Executive Director of the Nashua Planning Commission, and he's been working on getting the train running.
He says he's also involved in the effort to get a train through to Manchester.
But Williams says its much too early to say how much that service would cost.
one of the issues there is we're not exactly sure what sort of service would be provided all the way to manchester. we're not sure who would operate it, or exactly what the operational model would be. and so we're not sure at this point what kind of track upgrade we would need to bring the service up to manchester. and that is the biggest single cost.
Despite the uncertainties, officials hoping to bring the train to Manchester say thinking about it now could get service established more quickly than has happened in Nashua.
They'll get to discuss their ideas on Congressman Bass's train on Monday/later today.
