New Hampshire residents have demanded passenger rail service for years. As a strong and longtime advocate for the New Hampshire Capitol Corridor project, Mayor Jim Donchess is highly critical of last year’s Executive Council derailment, by a 3-2 vote, of the final planning phase for the extension of MBTA passenger rail service between Boston and Lowell, MA to Nashua and Manchester. Jim as well as our federal delegation and other state and local governmental leaders have vowed continuing action in support of passenger rail as a means to boost local economies and grow jobs along the corridor and to create new connections between the Nashua-Manchester metro and Boston.
Significant data points in support of the passenger rail expansion project include the following:
According to the 2015 New Hampshire Capitol Corridor Study, the passenger rail expansion project will deliver significant economic benefits to Nashua, Manchester, and southern New
Hampshire:
- 5,600 permanent jobs,
- 3,400 construction jobs to build the real estate development projects triggered by rail,
- 1,700 new jobs every year beginning in 2030,
- 3,600 residential units to support new workers,
- 1.9 million square feet of commercial real estate as a by-product of rail expansion,
- $750 million in real estate investment between 2021-2030, and
- $220 million in reinvested worker earnings added to the greater economy.
Rail expansion in the Capitol Corridor receives wide-ranging bipartisan support among New Hampshire voters:
- In an April 2019 survey conducted by Saint Anselm College, 75.5% of New Hampshire registered voters from every political party, gender, age, educational level, ideology, and county of residence support the expansion of passenger rail service from Boston to Nashua and Manchester. Additionally, 110+ statewide businesses support the project to realize vast economic benefits.
- In a February 2018 survey conducted by the University of New Hampshire, 75% of respondents favor the extension of passenger rail service from Boston and Lowell to Nashua, Manchester, and the Manchester Airport.
