Progress in New Hampshire

Extending passenger rail service from Massachusetts into Nashua and Manchester could

draw more riders each year than Amtrak’s Downeaster train, according to the chairman of the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority.

Preliminary estimates show commuter rail service in New Hampshire’s Capitol Corridor could draw as many as 3,100 boardings per day.

That number includes people taking the train south from Nashua and Manchester and those riding north to reach destinations in New Hampshire.

Extrapolated over the course of a year, the number of train trips to or from New Hampshire could top 800,000.

That number far exceeds the ridership for Amtrak’s popular Downeaster train, which runs between Boston and Brunswick, Maine, with a series of stops in New Hampshire. Amtrak reported close to 560,000 trips on the entire Downeaster line during its most recent fiscal year, which ended in October.

The figures were offered up for comparison Wednesday by New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority Chairman Tom Mahon. They’re another piece of data that could be used by proponents to bolster the argument for extending commuter rail service from Lowell, Mass., into New Hampshire.

The subject was the focus of a public forum Wednesday at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation building in Concord, where contractors studying commuter rail issues for the state presented their latest findings.

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