Where are the private investors ready and willing to build a rail line from Lawrence to Londonderry, N.H., and operate the trains that would run on it?
There are none. Why? Because laying track and running a train system is a hugely expensive proposition. And there isn't one thin dime to be made on such a venture.
But that doesn't stop those who have made a fetish of rail service from pushing all the harder for commuter trains in New Hampshire. One such group is the Conservation Law Foundation, which has filed a lawsuit against the expansion of Interstate 93 to compel the state to consider rail service extending north from Lawrence into the Granite State.
A Chicago consulting firm's recommendation that commuter rail service be extended from Lawrence into New Hampshire as far north as Londonderry sounds wonderful. But that wistful dream of trains once again rolling down the tracks comes with a huge expenditure of taxpayer money, both for initial construction of the line and for continued operation of the service. An estimate of $197 million to construct the line seems low.
Passenger rail service in the United States loses money, frequently vast sums of money. The only thing keeping passenger service operating anywhere in the United States is the fact that government extracts tax money from people who may never have ridden a train and uses it to subsidize those who do.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, lost $1 billion in 2007 and came before Congress in April asking for a 35 percent increase in its subsidy to $1.8 billion for FY 2009.
Fares on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trains cover only about one-third of the T's expenses with much of the rest coming from a share of state sales tax revenues and an assessment on cities and towns near the system. There are people in Massachusetts who are paying for the MBTA who have never even seen a T train.
New Hampshire residents have been unwilling to enact a sales or income tax to pay for the education of their children. Who will pay for train service so that some commuters from Londonderry can have an easier trip into Boston? It surely won't be the riders.
The costs of running rail service has sunk the MBTA more than $5 billion in debt. Rail advocates have been pressing the Massachusetts legislature to take on nearly $3 billion of that debt. Among those advocating saddling taxpayers with more rail service debt: the Conservation Law Foundation.
What will be the ultimate cost to New Hampshire taxpayers to realize the rail service dreams of others? That's something the people of the Granite State must consider before they sign on to this unworkable plan.
