(The following story by Jason Schreiber appeared on the Union Leader website on December 26, 2009.)
EXETER, N.H. — In the years before Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger service began to roll, there were trainloads of doubters.
But advocates of the plan were convinced they were on track, and eight years ago this month the passenger rail service began from Portland, Maine, to Boston.
Since then, officials say, the Downeaster has been a resounding success.
Ridership has grown steadily, with nearly 60 percent more passengers taking the train this year than when the service began.
“What the Downeaster has proven is that people are tired of driving and will give up their cars when provided with a safe, efficient, reliable and cost-effective alternative,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, the agency that runs the service.
The Downeaster has three New Hampshire stops — in Dover, Durham and Exeter. It has become a popular mode of transportation for Seacoast commuters looking for an easier way to get to their workplaces in Boston.
But Boston and Portland aren’t the only destinations for New Hampshire passengers.
Cliff Sinnott, executive director of the Rockingham Planning Commission, said he’s been surprised by the number of passengers who ride the train from one New Hampshire station to another.
For instance, some pick up the train to ride from Dover or Durham to Exeter, or vice versa.
Sinnott said the Downeaster service has been positive for the entire Seacoast area.
“It’s been a tremendous success from a transportation system standpoint,” he said. “It really is stimulating some economic development activity.”
An estimated 465 riders travel to and from New Hampshire stations on weekdays. About 140 travel to and from those same stations on weekend days.
The Exeter location has the biggest overall ridership, but it changes, depending on the day of the week, according to Quinn.
Ridership for the 2009 calendar year is projected to be approximately 457,000 passengers, which is 5 percent less than 2008, but 20 percent more than 2007, Quinn said.
Ridership this year is expected to be up 57 percent over the 291,794 who rode the train during its first year.
The Downeaster began with four round-trips daily and a travel time of two hours and 25 minutes from Portland to Boston. In August 2007, a fifth round-trip was added.
“I think at the time the Downeaster was proposed after a long effort to get it under way, there were skeptics who said, ‘This will never work. It’s not a good corridor to do it in.’ But it’s a big success and I think that shows that people do want passenger rail,” said Kit Morgan, administrator for the state’s Bureau of Rail and Transit.
The state has been pushing for a return of passenger rail for years. Aside from the Downeaster, the only other passenger train that makes a stop in New Hampshire is the Vermonter, which offers service from St. Albans, Vt., to Washington, D.C. The Vermonter, formerly known as the Montrealer because it provided service from Montreal to Washington, D.C., stops in Claremont.
The state is discussing with Amtrak the possibility of operating passenger rail along the so-called “NH Capital Corridor.” The service would run on tracks between Boston and Concord, connecting Concord, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and Nashua with Boston’s North Station.
Based on the successes of the Downeaster so far, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority is hoping to expand the service farther north into Freeport and Brunswick, Maine.
Quinn said the authority has submitted applications for grants through the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail grant program, administered by the Federal Railroad Administration, to pay for the capital cost of that expansion.
“We have, and will continue, to work hard at our success and hope that through funding partnerships with state and federal government we’ll be able to add more service and enjoy even more success,” Quinn said.